Fund depletion causing concerns to UN bodies
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Fazle Rashid
IT is the United Nations turn now to seek financial assistance on an emergency basis to keep the world body adrift. Some of its well-oiled agencies like the World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and its much vaunted peace keeping force are watching with dismay and anguish the fast depletion of their capital and rapidly emptying vaults
All three have been asked to scale back their work due to paucity of funds. Why are the international agencies like the three named above and the WB are IMF suffering from cash crunch? The answer is simple. The major contributor to all the multilateral agencies is the United States of America. The flow of capital from this source has dropped significantly due to economic meltdown. It will remain so over the next one decade. The US's federal budget deficit will be $1.0 trillion in the next ten years. Obviously, the wealthiest country in the world will severely put a brake on all international contributions. The taxpayers are already making loud protest about Washington's generosity to feed others at the cost of its own citizens. The US provides about a quarter of the UN annual budget.
The UN budget for its peacekeeping force is $8.0 billion and contributions to the UN agencies provide help for refugees, international development and other commitments
The UN secretary general Ban Ki moon has sent a SOS seeking a minimum of $4.9 billion to keep the world body running over the next two years. Protection of the UN security personnel now under attack in Afghanistan, Pakistan and various other turbulent places will require additional funding.
Britain has already asked its foreign office to tell the UN secretary general that any further expenditure will have to met by cutting expenses on other accounts. The UN at the moment does have enough fund to finance the working of its enquiry team investigating violence in Guinea. Big contributors like France and Britain have asked the UN not only to take resort to cost cutting devices but to put pressure on emerging economic tigers like Brazil and India to enhance their contributions.
One diplomat posed the question: "How is it that India pays the same as Ireland". The Indian contributions to the UN fund is a meagre $11 million The US treasury secretary in the meanwhile lamented the fact that federal budget deficit is too high but said job creation and economic growth are the government priorities, the New York Times (NYT) reported .Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner appearing on a Sunday TV talk show categorically stated that the government has no plans to tax people who makes less than $250,000 a year.
The government is yet to outline how it was going to reduce the deficit. The economy recover is still shaky and uneven. About 115 banks have failed this year but there has been significant improvement in bank's lending, the treasury secretary was quoted as saying. The secretary wants banks to shrug of their fear and start to lend more to bring back life to a collapsing economy. The unemployment hovering over 9.0 per cent and likely remaining so in 2010 is a big cause of anxiety for the government.
IT is the United Nations turn now to seek financial assistance on an emergency basis to keep the world body adrift. Some of its well-oiled agencies like the World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and its much vaunted peace keeping force are watching with dismay and anguish the fast depletion of their capital and rapidly emptying vaults
All three have been asked to scale back their work due to paucity of funds. Why are the international agencies like the three named above and the WB are IMF suffering from cash crunch? The answer is simple. The major contributor to all the multilateral agencies is the United States of America. The flow of capital from this source has dropped significantly due to economic meltdown. It will remain so over the next one decade. The US's federal budget deficit will be $1.0 trillion in the next ten years. Obviously, the wealthiest country in the world will severely put a brake on all international contributions. The taxpayers are already making loud protest about Washington's generosity to feed others at the cost of its own citizens. The US provides about a quarter of the UN annual budget.
The UN budget for its peacekeeping force is $8.0 billion and contributions to the UN agencies provide help for refugees, international development and other commitments
The UN secretary general Ban Ki moon has sent a SOS seeking a minimum of $4.9 billion to keep the world body running over the next two years. Protection of the UN security personnel now under attack in Afghanistan, Pakistan and various other turbulent places will require additional funding.
Britain has already asked its foreign office to tell the UN secretary general that any further expenditure will have to met by cutting expenses on other accounts. The UN at the moment does have enough fund to finance the working of its enquiry team investigating violence in Guinea. Big contributors like France and Britain have asked the UN not only to take resort to cost cutting devices but to put pressure on emerging economic tigers like Brazil and India to enhance their contributions.
One diplomat posed the question: "How is it that India pays the same as Ireland". The Indian contributions to the UN fund is a meagre $11 million The US treasury secretary in the meanwhile lamented the fact that federal budget deficit is too high but said job creation and economic growth are the government priorities, the New York Times (NYT) reported .Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner appearing on a Sunday TV talk show categorically stated that the government has no plans to tax people who makes less than $250,000 a year.
The government is yet to outline how it was going to reduce the deficit. The economy recover is still shaky and uneven. About 115 banks have failed this year but there has been significant improvement in bank's lending, the treasury secretary was quoted as saying. The secretary wants banks to shrug of their fear and start to lend more to bring back life to a collapsing economy. The unemployment hovering over 9.0 per cent and likely remaining so in 2010 is a big cause of anxiety for the government.