Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has informed the General Assembly that 15 countries, including oil producer Venezuela, are in arrears in paying their annual contribution to the UN regular budget, which means they can’t vote in the 193-member world body unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Ban’s letter dated Monday and circulated on Friday also included Iran, another major oil producer, which was under UN sanctions over its nuclear programme until last Saturday, when they were lifted. But Assembly spokesman Daniel Thomas said Friday that Iran “just paid,” so it can now vote.
The loss of voting rights in the General Assembly is perhaps most embarrassing for Venezuela, which is currently a member of the Security Council and will hold its rotating presidency next month. Being in arrears does not affect its voting right in the council, but being on the list can be seen as a loss of status at the UN.
Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately return a request for comment on its lost vote in the General Assembly.
Venezuela is in economic meltdown. The economy shrank 10 percent last year, according to the International Monetary Fund, and inflation is running well into the triple digits.
The country relies on oil for almost all of its export earnings, and its already severe shortage of dollars has gotten exponentially worse as the price of oil has cratered.