General Assembly ups U.N. budget for 2008-09

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly increased the world body's two-year core budget by about one sixth on Wednesday, reflecting higher costs of missions in trouble spots and plans for new U.N. jobs.

The budget for 2008-09 was set a year ago at $4.17 billion (2.8 billion pounds). Halfway through that 24-month period the Assembly, after talks that lasted through the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, raised it to more than $4.86 billion.

U.N. budget negotiations typically pit developing countries that want to see higher spending against major contributors such as the United States, Japan and Western Europe that seek to rein in costs.

The United States voted against the original budget because it contained funding for a racism conference due to take place in Geneva next April that Washington sees as anti-Israel. But Wednesday's increase went through by consensus without a vote.

General Assembly official Luis Guilherme Nascentes told reporters the main reasons for the increase were higher costs of 27 U.N. missions around the world, especially those in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan.

The assembly also agreed to fund 92 extra U.N. posts to promote development, which developing countries had pushed for, and 49 for the U.N. political section to back Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's strategy of "preventive diplomacy."

Both figures were less than Ban had sought. Ban nevertheless said in a statement he was "deeply appreciative" of the assembly's action.

The assembly also agreed to guidelines for Ban's next budget, to be presented next year and cover the two-year period 2010-11, setting a ceiling of just over $4.87 billion.

The core budget does not cover peacekeeping or the costs of major U.N. agencies, and by some estimates only accounts for 20 percent to 25 percent of total U.N. spending.

The United States has criticized the "piecemeal" approach to budgeting.

(Editing by Xavier Briand)