UN Secretary-General Guterres warns of threat of "financial collapse" of UN - media

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warned member states that the organization is facing an "imminent financial collapse."

It was reported by the Reuters portal.

He cited non-payment of contributions and a budget rule that obliges the UN to return unused funds to states as the reasons for this.

"The crisis is deepening, threatening programme delivery and risking financial collapse. And the situation will deteriorate further in the near future," Guterres said in the letter.

According to the Secretary General, by the end of 2025, the amount of contribution arrears reached a record USD 1.57 billion, but he did not name the countries that do not pay them.

Guterres noted that the UN could be left without funds by July, so "either all Member States honour their obligations to pay in full and on time – or Member States must fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse."

The UN's problems arose after its main donor, the United States, sharply reduced voluntary funding for the organization's agencies and refused to make mandatory payments to its regular and peacekeeping budgets.

At the same time, US President Donald Trump decided to create a Peace Council, saying that this structure could replace the UN, which hasn't been particularly useful in resolving armed conflicts.

Five weeks before the end of 2025, 48 countries had not paid their UN membership fees in full. Among them were the United States and russia, while China has fully fulfilled its obligations. Later, the organization's leadership reported that russia still contributed the remaining USD 71 million to the regular budget.

The size of the commitments depends on the size of the economy of each member country. The United States provided 22% of the core budget, China - 20%