New budget suggests that US may cut UN funding: Report

The US State Department has been instructed to seek cuts in excess of 50 per cent with regard to funding United Nation programmes.

 According to a report by Foreign Policy Magazine, the push comes as the as the White House is scheduled on Thursday to release its 2018 budget proposal, which is expected to include cuts of up to 37% for spending on the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign assistance programs, including the U.N., in next year’s budget. The United States spends about $10 billion a year on the United Nations.

“Currently, the United States has to pay just over 22% of the U.N.’s $2.5 billion administrative budget. Additionally, Washington pays billions of dollars for peacekeepers and helps underwrite a swath of other programs that fight hunger, settle refugees, and battle climate change,” the report says.

Adding that the United States has discretion to cut voluntary funds to humanitarian agencies, including the World Food Programme and UNICEF, the report adds that any move to slash funding could undermine Washington’s case for leading those agencies.