Draft UN Budget For 2026 Shows Cuts Largely Spare Elite

A draft UN budget shows that cost-saving measures for next year propose much smaller cuts for senior staff compared with lower ranks, a disparity likely to deepen divisions as financial support declines.

Secretary General Antonio Guterres wants to shrink the regular budget by 15% 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 under-secretaries-general beneath Guterres, or 3%, will go.

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

Top-Heavy UN

Criticism Of Top-Heavy UN Structure Barely Addressed

Ian Richards, president of the U.N.