Mr. Chair,

1. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Our Group would like to thank all briefers for introducing their respective reports.

2. At the outset, the Group wishes to bring your attention to the procedural issue before going to substantive ones. We note that the reports were signed by the Board of Auditors at the end of July, but it's until mid-October that delegates received reports, and Secretary General's reports and ACABQ report were coming out even later. This important agenda item has been postponed several times and the delay leaves the Committee insufficient time to deliberate on substantive issues. The group reiterates that adequate time should be given to each agenda item and that practical measures must be taken to ensure that all reports are issued in a timely manner.

Mr. Chair,

3. The Group attaches great importance to the work of the Board of Auditors in discharging external oversight of the Organization and, on this note, we express appreciation for the high quality of the Board's reports and its recommendations. We also welcome the submission of the audited financial statements for 2022.

4. The Group commends that the Board of Auditors conducted a survey among 15 entities, which enables the General Assembly to go into details on how budget management was perceived across various entities. The report also has a special section on the financial and budget management with deep analysis and important findings.

5. The Group notes that, of 17 audited entities, 8 had concluded the financial year with a surplus, and 9 had recorded a deficit, when those numbers were 15 and 2 respectively in 2021. We further note with concern that ITC and UNRWA showed negative net assets for the fourth consecutive year and reiterate that more efforts must be made to improve their financial situation.

6. Despite these deficits, the Board had assessed that, in general, the financial position of all entities, the solvency and liquidity ratios remained at least sufficient at the end of 2022, with the exception of United Nations peacekeeping operations. We stress this is a trend that should be monitored systematically in light of the periodic cash shortage in the major part of regular budget and payments not made in a timely manner.

7. The Group is pleased to note that all entities under review have received unqualified audit opinions from the Board of Auditors. We call upon all these entities to address the identified weaknesses while preserving the current accomplishments.

Mr. Chair,

8. The Group is concerned over a number of issues raised by the Board in its reports, including cost recovery fund, disclosure of special commitments, development reform, fund and asset management, delegation of authority, ICT, procurement, lack of transparency of extrabudgetary resources in proposed programme budget and their use to fund the establishment of high-level positions, among others. We emphasize that budget management is a key issue to the operating of the UN, and request the Secretariat to make further efforts to improve the financial and budget management.

9. We note that UNOPS again received a recommendation to take all measures necessary within its remit to recover the funds associated with Sustainable Investments in Infrastructure and Innovation investment losses. We look forward to receiving more information of the internal controls and actions envisaged to address this issue.

10. The Group further expresses its concern on the imbalance of geographical representation of staff in a number of entities and in the resident coordinator system and reiterates the need to intensify the efforts to achieve equitable geographic representation among staff, with a special focus on unrepresented or underrepresented Member States. 11. The Group also encourages the Secretary-General to pursue further efforts to maximize diversity in the Secretariat's vendor base from developing countries and hopes to receive an update on the benefits of establishing a joint vendor committee, as recommended by the Board.

Mr. Chair,

12. Turning to the status of the implementation of the recommendations of the Board, the Group notes that of the overall implementation rate was 52.49 per cent in 2022, which remained similar to 2021. The Group stresses the need for all entities to undertake prompt actions to ensure that the accepted recommendations of the Board are implemented as a matter of priority, and to hold programme managers accountable for the non-implementation. Furthermore, we reiterate our request to the secretariat to provide a full explanation for the delays in the implementation of all outstanding recommendations.

13. Finally, the Group assures you, Mr. Chair, that we will constructively engage in the consultations ahead to conclude this agenda item in a successful manner.

I thank you.