The funding gap for the regular budget amounted to 8.7 million and the projects budget experienced a shortfall of 23 million.

Shortage in extrabudgetary funding

Even after freezing vacant posts and reducing the travel and consultancy budgets, a substantial shortfall in income over expenditure for the core budget is predicted for the biennium.

30. Reaffirms that the vacancy rate is a tool for budgetary calculations and should not be used to achieve budgetary savings

8. Reiterates that the vacancy rate is a tool for budgetary calculations and should not be used to achieve budgetary savings

Note 3 The short fall in this project is being covered through a transfer of 2,766,500 from the regular alterations budget.

4. Reaffirms that the vacancy rate is a tool for budgetary calculations and should not be used to achieve budgetary savings

53. Reaffirms that the vacancy rate is a tool for budgetary calculations and should not be used to achieve budgetary savings

While acknowledging the risk of an expectation gap in the 2006 budget, the Deputy High Commissioner believed that once identified against expected funding, the Office would adjust and plan how to manage this gap with a longer lead time than in previous years.

The overall vacancy rate in the Department was 3.8 per cent compared to a budgeted vacancy rate of 6.5 per cent.

Although the 1997 budget volume was only 3.4 per cent higher than in 1996, despite natural growth in the refugee population and inflation, some allocations had to be reduced below budgeted amounts owing to funding shortfalls.

The total shortfall for the revised budget is approximately 22 million.

The realized vacancy rate for the Professional category and above was 6.3 per cent, higher than the approved budgeted rate of 5.9 per cent, and the realized vacancy rate for the General Service category was 6.0 per cent, higher than the approved budgeted rate of 5.8 per cent (A 60 572, para.

A major shortcoming would be the lack of programmatic performance assessments when approving the future budget.

The Controller cautioned that although the projected budgetary shortfall of 98.9 million would be carefully monitored and managed, unless additional contributions were forthcoming, the Office would not be able fully to implement the already capped budgets.

The Director of the Division of External Relations (DER) commented on the 2005 funding situation, reiterating previously stated concerns over the projected shortfall for the Annual Programme Budget.

Many delegations expressed serious concern over the projected shortfall, the impact of the budget caps and the potential gaps in delivery for some operations, notably repatriation situations.

I.38 The Advisory Committee notes that there is something of a disconnect between the budget narrative and the results based budgeting presentation.

SBS also suffered from tight budget constraints and staff shortages.

c Vacancy rates as forecasted in the initial budget estimates have been calculated on the basis of the phasing in schedule contained in the budget rather than the authorized staffing.

Several delegations were concerned by the proposed 16 per cent increase in the Annual Programme Budget from 2005 and queried whether this was realistic in light of the projected funding shortfall in 2005.

This shows a lack of consistency in budget presentation for peacekeeping operations.

The average vacancy rate for regular budget Professional posts was 19 per cent.

(v) UNFPA estimates for the biennial support budget for 2006 2007 (DP FPA 2005 13)

Current budget year challenges in managing the projected gap between revenue and the approved 2005 budget included the impact of unexpected exchange rate losses, on which an Aide Mémoire had been made available to delegations.

At that time, it had been projected that there would be a shortfall of about 40 million in the regular budget by the end of the year.

The net saving of 317,900 was attributable primarily to higher than budgeted vacancy rates and the incumbency of posts at lower than budgeted levels in the Office of Human Resources Management and the Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts.

Accordingly, the previous year end projection of cash available for regular budget purposes has been revised from the original forecast of a negative 247 million to a negative 50 million.

Vacancy rates are discussed in paragraphs 31 and 32 of the Introduction to the budget.

26. Decides that a vacancy rate of 18.2 per cent for Professional staff and 9.7 per cent for General Service staff shall be used as a basis for the calculation of the budget for the biennium 2004 2005

15. Decides that vacancy rates of 10.2 per cent for Professional staff and 7.3 per cent for General Service staff shall be used as a basis for the calculation of the budget for the biennium 2004 2005

8. Decides that a vacancy rate of 5.5 per cent for Professional staff and 3.8 per cent for General Service staff shall be used as a basis for the calculation of the budget for the biennium 2004 2005

The unspent balance of 30,000 relates to a higher than budgeted vacancy rate.

Vacancy statistics for authorized posts under the regular budget as at 31 July 2005

Schedule 8 of A 60 572 contains information on average vacancy rates by budget section.

The overbudgeting of air transportation requirements demonstrated a lack of financial responsibility.

It also noted the shortfall in achieving the UNCDF regular resources annual target of 30 million, as called for in decision 2002 26.

In addition, the vacancy rate for international staff had been reduced from 14.2 per cent as at 31 August 2005 to 8.2 per cent, compared with a budgeted rate of 10 per cent.

55. Decides that a vacancy rate of 6.5 per cent for Professional staff and 3.1 per cent for General Service staff shall be used as a basis for the calculation of the budget for the biennium 2002 2003

Regular budget Extrabudgetary Headquarters (74 per cent)

There was therefore a cash shortfall in the Agency s budget of some 77 million.

This points, in the view of the Advisory Committee, to a lack of uniformity in presentation of budget documents.

The Government budget allocated for population activities has also registered a steady increase.

Moreover, the Committee recalls that the General Assembly, in paragraph 23 of section II of its resolution 52 220, reaffirmed that the vacancy rate was a tool for budgetary calculations and should not be used to achieve budgetary savings.

Mine action coordination