Guterres’s published remarks outline $3.3bn UN budget plan for 2027 and funding appeal

UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s remarks to the General Assembly’s budget committee on 13 October set out a proposed $3.302 billion programme budget for 2027. Published by the UN press service, they describe a plan with 11,150 posts and a $3.408 billion total when major construction projects in Nairobi and Geneva are included. [1]

Guterres said the proposal was about $40.8 million, or 1.2 per cent, below the approved 2026 budget. It includes $423 million to continue special political missions; that sum is part of the proposal, not an addition to its total. [1]

Guterres said the plan would make a net reduction of seven posts, with 116 reductions partly offset by 84 new posts and 25 conversions. He also proposed 44 additional relocations across 12 UN entities, with the largest share directed to Nairobi, and the abolition or downgrading of 14 senior-level posts. [1]

The published remarks also call for member states to pay their contributions in full and on time and warn that efficiency measures could not make up for unstable financing. They welcome a General Assembly change to the way credits are returned, saying it would bring those returns more closely into line with available cash. [1]