General Assembly approves $3.45 billion UN regular budget for 2026

The General Assembly has approved a $3.45 billion regular budget for the United Nations for 2026, following weeks of intensive negotiations and one of the Organisation’s most important reform initiatives, UN80.

The budget, approved by the 193-member General Assembly on Tuesday, authorises $3.45 billion for the coming year, covering the Organisation’s three core pillars of work: peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights.

Addressing delegates as the Fifth Committee, the Assembly’s main administrative and budget body, wrapped up negotiations, UN Controller Chandramouli Ramanathan praised the Committee for steering a complex and compressed process to a timely conclusion.

“It has been a year of challenges,” he said, noting that the Secretariat had been tasked with assembling an entire budget in less than six weeks, producing hundreds of tables and responding to thousands of questions from oversight bodies and Member States.

He underscored that, despite often arduous negotiations, the Committee had once again reached agreement by consensus, a hallmark of the budgetary process. “That is something remarkable that you should not underestimate,” he told delegates.

Looking ahead, the Controller warned that the adoption of the budget marks the beginning – not the end – of a demanding implementation phase.

Ramanathan also welcomed what he described as a record level of potential advance payments by Member States toward the 2026 budget and appealed for continued prompt payment of assessed contributions.

WAM