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THE UN FINANCIAL CRISIS EXPLAINED

Is the UN in a "death spiral" because of its liquidity crisis?
What is the impact of this crisis on the ongoing UN80 reform ?
What are the positions of the main donors?

On 30 March, 2026, at La Pastorale, Greycells organised an informal conversation on the current UN financial crisis and its political implications. The invited speaker was Ronny Patz, PhD, researcher at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability and expert of financing of international organisations. Dr. Patz’s most recent paper was the basis of this enriching discussion

(https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/How-to-End-the-United-Nations-Current-Financial-Crisis-2026.pdf)

The debate focused on the structural features of the funding of the UN Secretariat, but referred also to other entities of the UN system. Dr. Patz highlighted that the current financial crisis is unprecedented because of its intensity and the speed of its consequences on the operations and the reductions of UN staff. It is still too early to have a clear comprehensive assessment of the budget cuts introduced in 2025. More reductions will certainly be necessary in 2026-2027, and the UN Secretary-General has already alerted about the risk of a default in June this year.

Several issues were discussed, such as : the unbalanced ratio of assessed contributions vs voluntary ear-marked funds – and the increasing power of donors in driving the agenda of the UN system ; the Secretariat’s critical liquidity crisis because of the non-payments or delayed payments of assessed contributions and the obligation to reimburse the unspent funds to member States ; the concentration of 42% of all contributions in two countries – the US and China – and their role in the financial structure and the ongoing UN80 reform process ; the difficulties in implementing inter-agency coordination because of the duplication of mandates adopted by member States within the system.

This event was attended by many members of Greycells as well as members of the Forum suisse de politique internationale.