8 - Budget Estimates for 1953

Persistent increases in the budgets of most Specialized Agencies in recent years have caused growing concern among many member countries, who are called upon to come forward with ever-growing contributions, The stabilization of these budgets is urgently required and has been repeatedly urged by responsible member countries, by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, and by the General Assembly of the United Nations itself. Canada has taken a leading role in urging stabilization, and Canadian delegations to all United Nations bodies are being instructed this year to insist that stablization policies be implemented.

The expansion of the ILO budget has been particularly disturbing, since the ILO is one of the oldest and best established of the United Nations bodies. In 1947, its net budget was $3,727,332. By 1949 it had increased to over $5 million. The budget proposed by the Director General for 1953 is $6,678,897, or almost double the 1947 budget level.

Since the net budget for 1952 was $6,224,922, the increase proposed by the Director General for the 1953 budget is therefore $453,975, or about 8 per cent. An increase of this amount indicates that the repeated requests of responsible countries for budgetary stabilization are not being met.

The Canadian Delegation should emphasize the necessity for stabilization of expenditure by the ILO. This does not mean that the present ILO programme should be fixed in its present form, nor that no new tasks should be undertaken. It does mean, however, that the adoption of essential new services should be accompanied by the elimination of projects of lower priorities, and that new duties should be met by re-organization of staff rather than by staff expansion.

The proposed 1953 budget should be closely examined by the Finance Committee and the Governing Body, with a view to achieving every possible economy consistent with the effective functioning of the organization. The Canadian Delegation should not hesitate to take the initiative in urging the adoption of measures to achieve such economies and should energetically support proposals by other representatives for reducing costs.

The following paragraphs indicate a number of places where budgetary savings could be made. These economies are suggested by way of example only. The Delegation is, of course, in the best position to search the 1953 programme and budget, in co-operation with other responsible delegations, for other means of stabilizing the 1953 budget.

Last year, the Finance Committee, at its March meeting, was able to reduce the Director General's proposed budget of $6,561,669 to $6,169,922. (This reduced budget still represented a considerable increase over the 1951 budget of $5,973,789.) It is expected that the Finance Committee will similarly be able to discover means of achieving savings in the 1953 budget. The Delegation should oppose budgetary proposals that do not, in its opinion, adequately meet the test of budgetary stabilization.

. . .