WHO Proposes Charging Member Nations in Swiss Francs
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The World Health Organization proposed requiring nations to pay half of their membership fees in Swiss francs instead of U.S. dollars as it seeks to reduce an imbalance between its income and expenditure in the franc.
Charging 50 percent of the biennial assessment in the Swiss currency and half in dollars would reduce the gap between the WHO’s income and expenditure in francs to $700 million from $1.2 billion, according to a document posted on the Geneva-based agency’s website today. Charging the full amount in francs would cut the shortfall to $200 million, according to the document. In both scenarios the WHO’s budget would be balanced by income and expenditure in other currencies.