United Nations suffering from cash crunch? May run out of money by end of October, says Antonio Guterres

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that UN is running a deficit of $230 million and it may run out of money by the end of October.

According to a report in AFP, In his letter intended for the 37,000 employees at the UN secretariat UN Secretary General said unspecified "additional stop-gap measures" would have to be taken to ensure that salaries and entitlements are paid.

"Member States have paid only 70 per cent of the total amount needed for our regular budget operations in 2019. This translates into a cash shortage of $230 million at the end of September. We run the risk of depleting our backup liquidity reserves by the end of the month," he wrote as quoted by AFP

In order to cut costs, Secretary General mentioned postponing conferences and meetings and reducing services, while also restricting official travel to only essential activities and taking measures to save energy.

Antonio Guterres had asked member states earlier this year to increase contributions to the world body to sort out cash flow problems, but they refused, a UN official said on basis of anonymity, reported AFP.

"The ultimate responsibility for our financial health lies with Member States," Guterres said.

Not including what it pays for peacekeeping operations, the UN's operating budget for 2018-2019 is close to $5.4 billion, with the United States contributing 22 per cent.