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

GENEVA - 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.

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 under-secretaries-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.

Criticism of top-heavy UN structure barely addressed

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

UN humanitarian agencies with their own budgets are set to shed more than a quarter of jobs.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said it was “inevitable” that the biggest reductions were where the workforce of more than 14,000 was largest.

“The timing of the UN80 revised estimates precluded more significant organisational restructuring that could reduce senior-level posts,” he said.

But he added that there was potential for further reductions in the future, including at senior levels.

The US and China are the two biggest contributors, together making up 40 per cent of the regular budget, and both are in arrears.

US President Donald Trump, who is sceptical of multilateral institutions,

slammed the UN this week at its headquarters

, though he later told Mr Guterres he backs it “100 per cent”.

The number of senior posts has swollen over the decades – something that a UN internal memo in 2025 sought to address through a major overhaul.

Countries guard prestigious UN positions

A non-American under-secretary-general in New York with no dependants earns a tax-free net salary of nearly US$270,000 (S$349,000), a UN website showed. Extra grants and allowances are given for relocation costs, a non-working spouse and children.

UN officials say these Cabinet-rank posts are the toughest to eliminate, partly because countries view them as sources of prestige and influence. Unwritten rules reserve some for specific states.

Dr Ronny Patz, an expert in UN financing, said Mr Guterres appeared to have tried to avoid a backlash by sparing posts at the top. “It’s definitely not a bold proposal. He’s left out some of the hardest choices.”

The proposals are not final and require approval by the General Assembly’s “Fifth Committee” in December after consultations with countries.

Mr Dujarric said reducing senior posts meant structural changes, which would require member states’ approval.

Under the proposed budget, the under-secretary-general roles to be trimmed are one for policy and the special adviser on Cyprus. In the next layer down, six assistant secretary-general posts will be cut, or 11 per cent.

Doubts about the UN’s future abound internally; in a survey of employees in August, less than a fifth voiced confidence in Mr Guterres' leadership.

Less than 10 per cent said they thought UN job reforms to date were based on a sound rationale. REUTERS