C. Budget for the third financial year (1948)

C. Budget for the third financial year (1948)

Introductory Statement of the Committee on Financial Control

1. General

In considering the draft budget for 1948, the Committee was aware of the many difficult problems associated with the preparation for the first time of a detailed budget for a new international organization. While it has obviously been impossible to refer to previous experience, a number of decisions, necessarily more or less provisional, have had to be taken regarding the content, scope, and form of the budget.

The preliminary draft submitted to the Committee was the first attempt at making a Financial appraisal of the requirements of the Organization at a time when it is still in a development stage. Although the Committee felt that the form of presentation of the preliminary draft budget was not entirely satisfactory, it realized that a few years must elapse before, concurrently with the development of the Organization, a completely adequate presentations will be developed.

2. Expenditure

Being conscious of the present difficult Financial world situation, and in the desire to avoid increasing the contributions of member governments, the Committee reduced the preliminary estimates submitted by the Director-General from the proposed total of $5,317,931 to $5,000,000. In doing so, it endeavored to obtain the fullest possible information on the actual detailed requirements in order to make the maximum amount available for the substantive program of the Organization.

The Committee gave detailed examination to administrative and program casts, and was pleased to note the detailed budget as presented to the Conference, with all relevant justifications will be found in Document C47/9. the endeavors of the administration to reduce such casts. It drew attention, however, to the operation and maintenance expenses involved in the occupancy by FAO Headquarters of six different buildings, and hopes that it will be possible within the near future to obtain suitable accommodations in one single building.

The Committee made a careful review of the establishment and procedures of the Organization, and its comments on these matters are set forth in paragraph 7 of the Report of the Committee on Financial Control to the Third Session of the Conference (Document C47/9).

Certain modifications of the preliminary draft budget were suggested by the Committee. The budget as now submitted incorporates these modifications, and the Committee recommends its adoption by the Conference.

The Committee, in discussing the relationship between the work program of FAO and the limited funds available for its consummation, was aware that the First and Second Sessions of the Conference had already recommended a program which, even with unlimited funds, could be completed only after scores of years The Committee therefore wishes to stress the need for reappraisal of the urgency and importance of the many problems with which the Organization has been called upon to deal and for a determination of a priority of action in relation thereto. The Conference should study carefully the programs of action submitted by the Director-General and, in light of their Financial implications, make appropriate recommendations thereon.

In view of these limitations, the technical, divisions will not be in a position to employ all the highly-specialized experts needed for the variety of tasks eon fronting them. The Committee therefore feels that divisional staffs should he rather small, and that they should include officers of firsts lass general abilities capable of adapting themselves readily to changing assignments of varying character. Such officers should be skilled in securing from outside bodies specialized technical information and in correlating and adapting such information to the best use of member governments.

3. Income

As will be seen in the report of the Committee on Financial Control (Document C47/9), the Committee decided to recommends that the scale of member contributions should provisionally be retained as such. As will be seen on page 2 of the budget (Document C47/8), this scale of contributions totals $4,488,000, leaving therefore a deficiency of $512,000, to be partly offset by miscellaneous receipts. This situation results from the practice of reserving percentages of contributions for potential new members.

In order to cover this deficiency, and as a purely temporary expedient consistent with the draft Regulations to cover the Working Capital Fund proposed in paragraph 3 of its report to the Conference (Document C47/9), the Committee recommends that an allocation of $508,000 be reappropriated to the Third Year's income Budget out of the amount of $557,400 allocated to the Working Capital Fund under the budget of the Second Financial Year. This reappropriation would naturally- be reduced insofar as new members might be admitted by the forthcoming Conference.

4. Unforeseen Contingencies,

Because of currently existing food and Agriculture, problems, FAO may be called upon in 1948 to undertake commitments of an unforeseen emergency nature. The Organization has to carry out both normal and emergency obligations throughout any fiscal year without access to supplementary budget appropriations or other sources of income Its only recourse is to the Contingencies appropriation in the current budget. The Committee is of the opinion that in the event of such emergencies arising, FAO should not be faced with the impossibility of Acting beyond the means available in a Contingencies item on which requirements may be heavy.

While the Committee is reluctant to recommend any Special measures to meet the situation, it sees no other alternative than to suggest that the following be included in the resolution to be considered by the Conference when it adopts the budget for the Third Financial year:

"In the event that urgent and extraordinary emergencies arise during 1948 which were not f foreseen when the budget was authorized, and which in the judgment of the Director-General and the Executive Committee (or other body replacing it in the exercise of the functions of the Conference between its Sessions) require the expenditure of funds by FAO prior to the next session of the Conference, and that such funds cannot be supplied from the appropriation for Contingencies in the budget or by curtailment of the current budget program, the Executive Committee (or the body replacing it) shall have power during the Third Financial Year to approve an increase of the Contingencies appropriation to cover such emergency requirements and to make available to the Director-General, upon request, from the Working Capital Fund, such sums as may be required to Finance or aid in financing them, provided that no such authorization shall be granted if its effect would be to reduce the Working Capital Fund to an aggregate sum of less than $1,500,000."

BUDGET FOR THE THIRD FINANCIAL YEAR ENDING 31 DECEMBER 1948

INCOME
Net amount to be borne by members of the Organization	$4,520,500
Work covered by Special Grants (United Nations Belief and Rehabilitation Administration)	(ad memoria)
Miscellaneous receipts:
Sale of publications	$1,000
Interest	2,500
Miscellaneous receipts	500
	4,000
Reallocation from the appropriation to the Working Capital Fund for the Second Financial Year	^1475,500
	$5,000,000

^{1 See paragraph 3 of Introductory Statement of Committee on Financial Control}

EXPENDITURE
Ordinary expenditure	$5,000,000
Work covered by special grants	(ad memoria)
	$5,000,000

INCOME BUDGET-THIRD FINANCIAL YEAR

Schedule of Contributions

Member Countries	Amount ($)
Austria	2,500
Australia	125,000
Belgium	70,500
Bolivia	11,000
Brazil	130,000
Canada	190,000
Chile	43,000
China	325,000
Colombia	26,500
Cuba	26,500
Czechoslovakia	77,000
Denmark	34,000
Dominican Republic	2,500
Ecuador	2,500
Egypt	65,000
El Salvador	2,500
Finland	5,000
France	284,500
Greece	21,000
Guatemala	2,500
Haiti	2,500
Honduras	2,500
Hungary	7,500
Iceland	2,500
India and Pakistan¹	212,500
Iraq	16,500
Ireland	53,000
Italy	106,000
Lebanon	2,500
Liberia	2,500
Luxembourg	2,500
Mexico	70,000
Netherlands	76,000
New Zealand	43,000
Nicaragua	2,500
Norway	34,000
Panama	2,500
Paraguay	2,500
Peru	26,500
Philippine Republic	13,500
Poland	65,500
Portugal	43,000
Siam	15,000
Switzerland	90,000
Syria	10,000
Union of South Africa	86,500
United Kingdom and Burma¹	750,000
United States of America	1,250,000
Uruguay	22,000
Venezuela	22,000
F.P.R. of Yugoslavia	39,000
Total	4,520,500

¹ Pakistan having been admitted to membership, it was decided by the Conference that the Indian contribution for the Third Financial Year should be divided between both countries, the respective shares to be determined by agreement between them.

The same solution was adopted in the case of Burma and the United Kingdom. Here again, it applies only to next year.

EXPENDITURE ESTIMATES FOR THE THIRD FINANCIAL YEAR-1948

Budget Summary by Chapters

Chapter	1946 Actual Expenditure	11947 Budget Estimates	1948 Budget Estimates
I. Session of the Conference, Meetings of Committees, and technical, Conferences	$ 323,851	$ 240,000	$ 315,603
II. Technical, Missions	18,670	100,000	200,000
III. Salaries and Allowances	568,938	2,622,500	2,748,880
IV. Staff Provident Fund	33,806	294,000	330,000
V. Official Travel	90,168	200,000	200,000
VI. Office and Operational Expenses	186,408	454,500	393,400
VII. Printing	44,075	220,000	237,117
VIII. Contingencies	123,357	917,000	^2575,000
Total	$1,389,273	$5,048,000	$5,000,000

¹ The Executive Committee at its seventh session approved a plan of expenditure for 1947 in conformity with the recommendations of the Second Session of the Conference.
² The Conference adopted a resolution amending the budget as presented for approval by increasing the appropriation under Chapter I from $290,603 to $315,603 and reducing the provision under Chapter VIII (Contingencies) from $600,000 to 575,000.

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS EXPENDITURE BUDGET-THIRD FINANCIAL YEAR

(By Program)

	Salaries		Meetings			Travel			Printing			Total			1948 Compared with 1947
	1947	1948		1947	1948		1947	1948		1947	1948		1947	1948		Increase	Decrease
	$	$		$	$		$	$		$	$		$	$		$	$
Director-General and Staff	56,850	56,850					17,600	15,296					74,450	72,146			2,304
Senior Executive Officer	25,700	23,455					8,000	7,550					33,700	31,005			2,695
Regional Advisers and their Assets	106,800	107,175					14,000						120,800	107,175			13,625
Common Program and Technical Services:
Inter-Divisional Co-ordination	11,350	26,555					950	1,968					12,300	28,523		16,223
External Relations - Governments	22,700	22,495					4,000	8,540					26,700	31,035		4,335
External Relations - UN and Internal Org.	13,600	13,695					2,800	6,264					16,400	19,959		3,559
Secretariat - Conference and Exec. Comm.	9,500	9,600					1,800	3,940					11,300	13,540		2,240
Documents and Languages Branch	194,190	157,525					450	690					194,640	158,215			36,425
Library	49,350	42,440											49,350	42,440			6,910
Technical Divisions:
Agriculture	232,210	203,805		38,000	35,375		12,000	18,320		31,270	30,900		313,480	288,400			25,080
Economics, Marketing, and Statistics	600,000	581,340		22,000	28,195		48,000	31,402		50,316	75,040		720,316	715,977			4,339
Fisheries	147,200	139,590		17,600	17,600		12,000	16,390		7,550	22,785		184,350	196,365		12,015
Forestry and Forest Products	185,350	185,207		18,400	24,576		30,400	28,426		46,590	51,650		280,740	289,859		9,119
Information	154,600	148,430		5,400			20,000	19,296		47,969	21,450		227,969	189,176			38.793
Nutrition	150,000	148,465		24,900	26,183		8,000	12,716		1,350	15,425		184,250	202,789		18,539
Rural Welfare	50.000	50,000			3,140			6,660			12,420		50,000	72,220		22,220
Officers for Regional Work Service		140,000												140,000		140,000
I.E.F.C.	194,000						3,200						197,200				197,200
Administrative Services:
Budget and Finance	49,925	51,230					1,000	1,550					50,925	52,780		1,855
Personnel	36,350	41,585					1,500	1,840					37,850	43,425		5,575
Internal Services - Office Management	275,930	202,140					1,500	1,890		34,955			312,385	204,030			108,355
Document Distribution and Sales	17,300	22,105											17,300	22,105		4,805
Reserve				13,700	25,000		12,800	17,262			7,447		26,500	49,709		23,209
TOTAL	$2,582,905	$2,373,687		$140,000	$160,069		$200,000	$200,000		$220,000	$237,117		$3,142,905	$2,970,873
Estimated Savings, unfilled posts (deduct)	517,905												517,905			517,905
TOTAL	$2,065,000	$2,373,687		$140,000	$160,069		$200,000	$200,000		$220,000	$237,117		$2,625,000	$2,970,873
Undistributed Items:
Sessions of Conferences and Committees													100,000	155,534		55,534
Technical Missions													100,000	200,000		100,000
Allowances, Temporary Appointment, etc.													557,500	375,193			182,307
Staff Provident Fund													294,000	330,000		36,000
Office and Operational Expenses													454,500	393,400			61,100
Contingencies													917,000	575,000			342,000
Total (Increase and Decrease)																$973,133	$1,021,133
TOTAL													$5,048,000	$5,000,0000			48,000

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