Governments reduce UN budget at $170 million while expanding military sales

"The world continues to squander trillions on Military spending. Why is it easier to find more to destroy people and planet than it is to it is to protect them."   

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon 

As many of you will have read I've been concerned about the attempt by developed countries led by he USA to not fund/ the implementation of the SDGs and FFD within the work of the UN. In the end Im not absolutely sure what was agreed but the SG indicated that adding resources to development  had been achieved but at the same time as reducing resources to areas including public information, which presented challenges for the United Nations.

UNGA President Mr. Lykketoft (Denmark), said 2016 would be about kick-starting implementation of the “incredible breakthroughs” that the Organization had brought about in 2015, namely the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement. 

The UN final core budget for the next two years hasn't increased but has been reduced by $170,000 to $5.4 billion. This is $400 million less than the 2014-2015 budget.

For those that do not know the UN regular budget is financed by the assessed contributions of each member state.  This is calculated  every three years and is based on a country's Gross national Income (GNI) average for the previous 3 to 6 years as well as taking into considerations its national debt and per-capita income.

This year saw the contributions of the top ten countries being.

1. USA 22%
2. Japan 9.68 %
3. China 7.92 %
4. Germany 6.38 %
5. France 4.85 %
6. Britain 4.46 % 
7. Brazil 3.82 %
8. Italy 3.74 % 
9. Russia 3.08 %
10. Canada 2.92 %

Arms Sale and Military Spending 

Meanwhile  a recent congressional report pointed out hat foreign arms sales by the United States in 2014 went up by $10 billion to $36.2 billion. The US now accounting for 35% of the global weapons market. This is compared to Russia with at $10.2 billion and the next two being France at $4.4 billion and China at $2.2 billion. As far as spending by governments on military again the amounts are huge.

I'll leave the final word to the UN Secretary General:

"The budget you have approved reflects the difficult global financial reality we have faced for a number of years, Funding continues to shrink while demands on the United Nations grow."