FILE PHOTO: A Congolese refugee looks on as a UNHCR volunteer checks on refugees and migrants rescued at open sea and waiting to be transferred to the Moria registration centre at the port of Mytilene on the Lesbos island, Greece March 21, 2016. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis/File Photo
GENEVA (Reuters) -The U.N. refugee agency plans to scale back its budget by nearly a fifth next year due to "financial constraints", even as the war in Sudan and other crises cause a surge in people fleeing their homes, its budget showed.
The UNHCR agency also plans to close its Southern Africa bureau and scrap nearly 4,000 jobs as cuts leave it with $8.5 billion to spend in 2026, down from $10.2 billion in 2025, according to the document published online on Monday.
It did not go into details on the constraints. Aid agencies have been rocked by funding cuts from major donors, led by the United States and other Western powers which have prioritised defence spending prompted by growing fears of Russia.
The Geneva-based body expects the number of forcibly displaced and stateless people to rise next year to a new global record of 136 million, up from 129.9 million in 2024.
The closure of the bureau in South Africa's capital Pretoria will take effect on October 1 and other offices will absorb its operations, the document said.
Southern Africa hosts refugees fleeing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and those displaced by the northern Mozambique insurgency.
The United States has historically been by far the largest donor to the UNHCR.
(Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Nellie Peyton in Johannesburg; Editing by Riham Alkousaa and Andrew Heavens)
