RESTRICTED  
  
WT/BFA/W/ 614 
 
16 November 2022  
(22-8513) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration    
 
  
PROPOSED UTILIZATION OF THE 2021 BUDGETARY SURPLUS  
1.  Financial R egulation 23 states that the Director -General shall make proposals to the Committee 
on Budget, Finance and Administration ( CBFA) regarding the use of the Budgetary Surplus . The  
proposals may  be as follows : 
a. application as income against the budget for the second financial period following that in 
which the surplus occurs, thereby reducing Members' contributions ; 
b. transfer to the Worki ng Capital Fund1; or 
c. use for any other purpose decided upon by the General Council.  
2.  The 2021 budgetary result of CHF 6 million comprises a budgetary surplus of CHF 4.7 million, 
CHF 0.9 million receipts under miscellaneous income more than the budgeted amo unt, and  a 
reduction of provisions resulting from  receipts of contributions in arrears totalling  CHF 0.4 million.  
3.  With the above background, the Director -General proposes that the budgetary surplus as of 
31 December 202 1, totalling CHF 6 million , be utilized to cover increases in various mandatory and 
unavoidable expenses  in 2023 . In this regard, the budgetary surplus of  CHF 6 million  will be 
ring-fenced and utilized exclusively for any amounts pertaining to the objects of expenditure in 
Table  1 below.  
4.  A short status update of the expenditure for these areas of the budget will be made to the CBFA  
after every quarter . The expectation is that this budgetary surplus will be drawn on as of the second 
half of 2023 onwards.  
Table 1 Mandatory and Unavoidable Expenses for 2023  
Type of Expenditure  Description  Amount  
(CHF Million)  
Staff Remuneration  Forecast 1.8% mandatory inflationary adjustment to  
salary scales as per the grade weighted average  
difference between the WTO and the comparator 
organizations i.e ., 70% UNOG and 30% Coordinated 
Organizations . 
 1.6 
Death and Invalidity Insurance  Increase due to an u navoidable i ncrease in the 
premium under a recent new contract .  
 0.5 
Temporary Assistance /Interpreters  Increase due to doubling of t he cost for Freelance 
Interpreters with the introduction of virtual meetings , 
the increase in the number of meetings with 
interpretation , and the limitation in number of hours 
work imposed by the International Association of 
Conference Interpreters  for meetings with a virtual 
component . 
 1.5 
 
1 Spending funds in the Working Capital Fund requires a new approval by the General Council.  WT/BFA/W/ 614 
 
- 2 - 
 
  Type of Expenditure  Description  Amount  
(CHF Million)  
Contractual Services & Maintenance / 
IT Outsourced services to UN International Computing 
Centre ( UNICC ), the  inter-agency facility providing 
Information and Communication Technology Services 
on a cost recovery basis , are evolving significantly 
from simply providing managed hosting services to 
incorporating virtual meeting platforms, Teams 
telephony, and new security services , as well as 
serving as the provider of Internet, remote access, 
mail gateway, anti -spam, and firewall services to the 
WTO.2  
 0.8 
Contractual Services & Maintenance / 
Security  Security company adjustments due to salary 
increases in the Geneva security sector . 
 0.1 
Energy and Supplies /Electricity , Gas 
and Fuel  Projected increase  per kilowatt hour of electricity  
between 2022 and 2023  of 236%; substantial 
increase in the price of gas and fuel forecast in the 
Swiss market.  
 1.15 
Procurement of Fixed Assets / 
Conference Services  Necessary and urgent u pgrade of the audio discussion 
and interpretation system, which was installed in 2013 
and has become obsolete and is no longer serviced by 
the vendor or manufacturer. The required amoun t is 
CHF 3 million , to be spread out over 3 years.3 
 1.0 
Procurement of Fixed Assets /IT Necessary i ncrease to fund the enhancement of 
various IT services including the Document 
Management and Documents Online systems, and 
software for virtual platforms.  
 0.30 
Total   6.95 
 
5.  In view of the Director -General's proposal, the following recommendation is  to be endorsed  by 
the CBFA:  
The Committee on Budget Finance and Administration (CBFA) recommends to the 
General  Council that the WTO Budgetary Surplus as at 31  December  2021, amounting to 
CHF 6 million , be exclusively utilized to cover  the mandatory and unavoidable expenses  
contained in Table 1 of the document WT/BFA/W/ 614. 
 
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2 The WTO is using a multitude of services from UNICC, which include managed hosting for applications 
such as Documents On -Line (DOL), the WTO website, E -Registrati on for Members, e -Training, Integrated 
Databases, Dispute Online Registration Application, Enterprise Communication Services (Email and Teams 
Telephony), Data Storage and its Backup, Desktop imaging, Application packaging, IT Security Services, 
Enterprise Management Services, and Active Directory Federation Services. UNICC also serves as the provider 
of Internet, remote access, mail gateway, anti -spam, and firewall services to the WTO. The services of the UNICC 
have evolved significantly since 2012, from si mply providing managed hosting services to incorporating Virtual 
meeting platforms, Teams Telephony, and new Security Services.  
3 The replacement of the audio discussion system is urgent. A request will be made to the CBFA seeking 
approval to fund the rema ining CHF 2 million required to complete the upgrades from the Building Renovation 
Fund.