UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Last year was a "good year" for the United Nations, with funds for 97 percent of the budget collected from 152 of the 193 member states, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday.
"It was a good year as far as the member states paying their dues," Farhan Haq, deputy chief spokesman for Guterres, told Xinhua, adding that what was paid amounted to 97 percent of the budget and there was still another month grace period for the 41 member states with dues outstanding to pay up and still be recorded as on time.
"We expect them to come through with their amounts," he added.
"Last year, 152 out of 193 states paid in full by Dec. 31, 2018," he told reporters at a regular briefing.
The amount paid by member states was being applied to the 2018 portion of the nearly 5.4 billion U.S dollar 2018-2019 UN regular two-year budget.
"So, we are pleased at the response we got," the spokesman said.
"It's a new year and it's a new Honor Roll," Haq said. "Two members have enrolled to date -- Estonia and Malawi -- and we extend gratitude to those two member states for their full payments to the regular budget" in 2019.
