At a press briefing last week, Sri Lanka was singled out for paying its UN dues in full for 2025—one of only 93 countries on a list of honourees (out of a total of 193 member states).
“We say thank you to our friends in Colombo for their full payment to the regular budget. Sri Lanka’s payment brings the number of fully paid-up member states in 2025 to 93,” said UN spokesperson Stéphanie Tremblay at the daily noon briefing. As a developing country, Sri Lanka’s assessed contributions—its annual membership dues—are at the low end, amounting to about $1.3 million. Still, the annual dues of the Maldives, categorised as one of the 39 small island developing states (SIDS), are even lower, amounting to about 136,000 dollars.
Faced with a cash crisis, mostly due to non-payments by member states, the UN is currently on an austerity drive and has cut back on its annual expenditures and plans a hiring freeze.
But the biggest single defaulter is the US, which, as the largest contributor, pays 22% of the UN’s regular budget and 27% of the peacekeeping budget.
Currently, the US owes $1.5 billion to the UN’s regular budget. And, between the regular budget, the peacekeeping budget, and international tribunals, the total amount the US owes is a hefty $2.8 billion.
The Sunday Times
