Guterres warns UN faces ‘imminent financial collapse’

UN chief Antonio Guterres calls on member states to address unpaid dues and overhaul world body’s financial rules.Published On 30 Jan 2026UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the United Nations faces “imminent financial collapse” amid unpaid annual dues and other issues.Al Jazeera on Friday reviewed a letter Guterres sent to all UN member states earlier this week, warning them that the global body faced a grave financial crisis.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3‘No one power’ can solve global problems, says UN chief as US veers awaylist 2 of 3Is Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ an effort to curtail Europe’s middle powers?list 3 of 3UNRWA staff cuts deepen in Gaza as Israel restricts critical aid accessend of listThe letter urged member states to agree to overhaul the UN’s financial rules or accept “the very real prospect of the financial collapse of our Organization” and called on them to pay their annual dues.Asked about the letter during a news briefing on Friday afternoon, a UN spokesperson said that, “when it comes to paying, it’s now or never”.“We do not have the sort of cash reserves and the sort of liquidity to keep functioning as we’ve done in previous years – and this is something that the secretary-general has warned with increasing strength each year,” Farhan Haq told reporters.While Guterres did not blame a specific country for the UN’s financial troubles, his appeal comes as United States President Donald Trump has moved to slash Washington’s funding for multilateral institutions.Trump, whose administration announced plans this month to withdraw from several UN agencies, also recently launched his so-called “Board of Peace” initiative, which some experts have said aims to sideline the UN.“Trump’s board appears to be a kind of pay-to-play, global club, judging from the $1 billion fee for permanent membership,” Louis Charbonneau, the UN director at Human Rights Watch, recently warned.