US President, Donald Trump has reacted to warnings from the United Nations on Wednesday that the 74-year-old organization risks being unable to pay its staff and bills if member nations don’t pay their annual dues soon.
Recall that U.N. officials had said only 129 countries have paid their 2019 dues, two-thirds of all members.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said that nearly $2 billion has been paid to the organization this year and that the outstanding balance for other countries amounts to another $1.3 billion.
Dujarric described the financial situation as the worst cash crisis facing the United Nations in nearly a decade.
According to the U.N, the biggest delinquent payer in the world is the United States.
Washington owes the U.N. $381 million in back payments and $674 million this year.
Responding to reports of deep U.N. budget deficits, Trump, who had openly questioned the value of the U.N., asked the global body to also clampdown on other countries to pay not just his.
“So make all Member Countries pay, not just the United States!” he wrote Wednesday on his verified Twitter handle.
