UN cuts for 2026 to spare its elite, draft budget shows

UN cost savings plans for 2026 envisage far smaller cuts to senior staff than to lower ranks, a draft budget document shows, a contrast likely to fuel division just as financial support for the institution is slipping.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants to shrink the budget by 15 per cent to cut costs. The revised 2026 budget showed just two of 58 department head posts in the layer of under-secretaries-general beneath him will go.

(PHOTO: AFP)

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants to shrink the regular budget by 15 per cent to improve efficiency and cut costs as the United Nations runs into a cash crisis as it turns 80.

A copy of the revised 2026 budget showed just two of 58 department head posts in the layer of undersecretaries-general beneath Mr Guterres, or 3 per cent, will go.

That compares with around 19 per cent across the board and up to 28 per cent for one lower-ranking category, according to Reuters calculations based on the UN document.

Mr Ian Richards, president of the UN Geneva Staff Union, said Mr Guterres’ proposals “will make the global body more top-heavy and bureaucratic”.