The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has told member states that the organisation faced “imminent financial collapse” amid unpaid annual dues and other issues.

Mr Guterres, in a letter he sent to UN member states, called on them to address unpaid dues and overhaul global body’s financial rules.

He said, “The crisis is deepening, threatening programme delivery and risking financial collapse. And the situation will deteriorate further in the near future,” Guterres wrote in the letter to UN ambassadors.

He particularly warned member states to either agree to overhaul the UN’s financial rules or accept “the very real prospect of the financial collapse of our Organisation.”

The UN chief cited two main problems as unpaid dues and a rule now seen as antiquated whereby the global body has to credit back hundreds of millions of dollars in unspent dues to member states each year.

“In other words, we are trapped in a Kafkaesque cycle expected to give back cash that does not exist,” Mr Guterres said.

Kafkaesque is a reference to author Franz Kafka, who wrote about oppressive bureaucratic processes.

In his letter, Mr Guterres said “decisions not to honour assessed contributions that finance a significant share of the approved regular budget have now been formally announced.

“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.”

Under UN rules, the annual dues UN member states must pay are set according to each country’s gross domestic product, debt and other factors.

Based on the rules, the U.S. accounts for 22 per cent of the UN regular budget, which finances the day-to-day operations of the organisation and its primary activities.

The U.S. is also responsible for approximately 26 per cent of the UN peacekeeping budget.

However, the U.S. has slashed voluntary funding to UN agencies and refused to make mandatory payments to its regular and peacekeeping budgets.

As of the end of 2025, Mr Guterres said that there was a record 1.57 billion dollars in outstanding dues.

Founded in 1945, the UN has 193 member states and works to maintain international peace and security, promote human rights, foster social and economic development, and coordinate humanitarian aid.

However, U.S. President Donald Trump recently launched a Board of Peace, which some fear could undermine the current global body.

Trump, who described the UN as having “great potential,” however, said the global body was not fulfilling that.

To wriggle out of the cash crunch, Mr Guterres launched a reform task force in 2025, known as UN80, which seeks to cut costs and improve efficiency.

Following the launch of the initiative, states agreed to cut the 2026 budget by around seven per cent to 3.45 billion dollars.

Amid his cost-cutting measures, Mr Guterres warned in the letter that the UN could run out of cash by July.

As of Friday, only 36 of the 193 member states had fully paid their regular 2026 contributions, the UN noted on its website. 

(NAN)