CP/RES. 990 (1819/11)

TRANSFER OF FUNDS BETWEEN CHAPTERS OF THE PROGRAM-BUDGET FOR 2011

(Adopted at its session held on September 30, 2011)

THE PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES,

CONSIDERING:

As described below, projections for 2011 Program-Budget execution shows a combined deficit in the Regular Fund and Indirect Costs Recovery Account in the order of US$3.7 million at December 31, 2011;

That, as a result of the United Nations statutory adjustments, the increase in personnel costs in 2011 is approximately more than double the amount budgeted in the 2011 Program-Budget;

That resolution AG/RES. 1 (XL-E/10), which adopted the 2011 Program-Budget, established that “the total expenditure on personnel (object 1) should not exceed 64.38 percent of the indicative figure for the 2012 Regular Fund program-budget, including any statutory increases that may be required”;

That, with this situation in mind and the requirement established by the General Assembly, it has been necessary in the course of this year to proceed to terminate the contracts of several staff members of the General Secretariat;

That the termination of these staff members' contracts requires payment of severance pay, which substantially exceeds the amount budgeted for the Termination and Repatriation Account for 2011 (Subprogram 102 H) in Chapter 10 of the Program-Budget for 2011; for which reason funds must be identified to cover those obligations;

That the only Regular Fund account with sufficient available funds to cover the costs of the staff members' severance pay is the Scholarships Account (Subprogram 72G) of Chapter 7 of the Program-Budget for 2011;

That it is necessary to effect a transfer of funds between chapters of the Program-Budget for 2011, so that the General Secretariat can comply with the aforementioned obligations;

That Article 104 of the General Standards establishes that transfers between chapters that exceed 5% of the total Regular Fund resources approved for the Chapter from which those resources are withdrawn or to which those resources are to be transferred shall require the prior approval of the Permanent Council;

That Article 110 of the General Standards establishes that when the General Assembly is not in session, the Secretary General must be authorized by the Permanent Council to negotiate and contract any loans; and

That, in order not to suspend scheduled scholarships, the Permanent Executive Committee of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CEPCIDI) is expected to approve a loan of US$3.7 million from the OAS Capital Fellowships Fund to the Scholarships Account (Subprogram 72G),

RESOLVES:

1. To approve the transfer of up to US$3.7 million from Chapter 7 (Subprogram 72G) to Chapter 10 (Subprogram 102H) of the Program-Budget for 2011.

2. To authorize the General Secretariat to enter into the contractual obligations relating to a loan of approximately US$3.7 million from the OAS Capital Fellowships Fund to the Scholarships Account (Subprogram 72G) of the Regular Fund, and to request CEPCIDI to authorize this loan so that the programming of the corresponding scholarships can continue, with the understanding that the loan shall be paid beginning in 2012 in five equal annual installments, out of future annual appropriations.

3. To request that the General Secretariat report to the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs (CAAP) on the implementation of this resolution by means of the quarterly resource management reports.

4. To urge the General Secretariat to propose appropriate measures to ensure that this funding situation does not reoccur in the future and to report to the Permanent Council on those measures.