UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned yesterday of the need to make "difficult and uncomfortable decisions" to tackle the organization's funding crisis, projecting "significant reductions" in the budget and job cuts.

Although the UN's workload is increasing every year, resources are dwindling in all sectors. This is also because not all member states pay their annual obligations in full, and many do so on time.

At an informal meeting of the UN plenary to explain the contours of the "UN80 Initiative" - a project aimed at structural changes in the multilateral organization itself - Guterres defended the urgency of merging units, eliminating functional and structural duplication, and cutting back on functions that are carried out in other parts of the system.

"By moving stations away from high-cost locations, we can reduce our commercial presence" in certain cities and reduce our costs," he said.

Guterres indicated that "considerable savings" have already been made in New York - the city where the UN headquarters is located - by terminating the lease on a building and transferring staff to other existing premises.

"We hope to close two more buildings when their leases expire in 2027, with considerable savings," he said.