Member states owe the United Nations $4.295 billion in unpaid contributions, four-fifths of it to the peacekeeping account, UN spokesman Mr Fred Eckhard said today.
As of July 15th, members owed more than $726 million for the regular budget for this and previous years, and over $3.46 billion for peacekeeping, he said. They owed just over $100 million dollars for the international war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
"The biggest debtor, the United States, now owes more than $2.33 billion, including more than $462 million for the regular budget and more than $1.8 billion for peacekeeping," Mr Eckhard said.
Last week, the organisation said its cash flow was "extremely precarious" and it would be forced to cross-borrow from the peacekeeping account in order to pay staff salaries this month.
Cross-borrowing from peacekeeping means that countries which provide troops or equipment have to wait to be reimbursed.
Leaders of the Republican party in the US congress have threatened to hold up payment of $582 million of arrears which they agreed in December to deliver to the UN by the end of this year.
On Thursday, a US administration official said the lawmakers were putting pressure on President George W. Bush to support legislation aimed at obtaining exemptions for US military from the embryonic International Criminal Court.
"We made a deal to pay UN dues and we want to honour that agreement," the official said.
Mr Bush is expected to attend the start of the next session of the UN General Assembly on September 24th.
AFP