Completed projects with balances

(a) that project balances should be returned to the Multilateral Fund at the latest 12 months after project completion;

(b) to request Implementing Agencies to report to the Executive Committee if they could not close the accounts on a project within 12 months after project completion;

(c) also to request Implementing Agencies to report to the Executive Committee cases where they could not liquidate their remaining obligations within 12 months after project completion.

(b) to request a report from each agency, to be submitted to the Thirtieth Meeting of the Executive Committee, on the extent to which the Implementing Agencies’ share of the project balances from projects completed through 1998 has been obligated;

(c) that where there were still balances that had not been committed or obligated for projects completed by December 1997, those amounts should be made available for utilisation by the Executive Committee at its Thirtieth Meeting.

The Thirtieth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided to request the Secretariat to liase with the Implementing Agencies to refine further the un-obligated balances and un-liquidated obligations included in the following table and to indicate a time for return of the balances to the Fund in time for the Thirty-first Meeting.

Agency	Balances from completed projects through 1998 (US$)	Obligations (US$)	Funds to be returned (US$)	Un-obligated balances (US$)
UNEP	2,404,858	1,931,979	481,365	0
UNIDO	7,287,129	4,652,911	336,091	2,134,079
World Bank	11,319,764	3,296,410	5,350,629	5,969,134
Total	21,011,751	9,881,300	6,168,085	8,103,213

The Thirty-second Meeting of the Executive Committee decided that balances from completed recurring projects should be returned to the Fund for reprogramming.

(b) to urge Implementing Agencies to specify a date on which funds would be returned for all projects;

(c) to note that UNIDO had indicated that it would return US $700,000 of its US $2.2 million in unobligated balances within one month, and that it would report on the schedule for returning funds on 16 projects by the Thirty-fourth Meeting;

(d) to request the Multilateral Fund Secretariat to ensure that UNIDO reported unobligated balances in the same way as the other Implementing Agencies;

(e) to note with appreciation the reports on completed projects with balances from the Governments of Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, and the United States of America and the four Implementing Agencies contained in UNEP/OzL.Pro/ExCom/33/15 and Add.1.

The Thirty-fourth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided to request UNIDO and the World Bank, at the 35th Meeting, to specify a date on which funds would be returned for those projects where no date was specified, pursuant to Decision 33/11(b).

The Thirty-fifth Meeting of the Executive Committee decided to note with concern that it appeared that projects had been prematurely classified as completed although they had not been completed, and requested the agencies to adhere strictly to Decision 28/2 when classifying all projects as completed.

(ii) the levels of funds being returned to the 38th Meeting totalling US $3,751,490 including support costs as follows by agency: US $283,783 from UNDP and agency support costs of US $30,468; US $174,000 from UNEP and agency support costs of US $22,620; US $1,770,088 from UNIDO and agency support costs of US $232,629, and US $1,147,692 from the World Bank and agency support costs of US $90,210;

(iii) that Implementing Agencies had balances totalling US $2,422,895 excluding support costs from projects completed over two years previously: UNDP (US $664,430 plus support costs); UNIDO (US $1,547,147 plus support costs); and the World Bank (US $211,318 plus support costs);

(b) to urge Implementing Agencies to re-assess the status of their completed projects with balances and re-classify projects as ongoing in their reports to the 39th Meeting if Decision 28/2 had not been fully complied with and reconsider the matter if balances from projects completed two years previously did not continue to be reduced;

(c) to withhold US $1,159,980 from fund transfers to the World Bank at the 38th Meeting as the World Bank had not provided sufficient explanations for not returning those support costs and any further consideration of the matter should be made contingent on the World Bank providing information required by the Secretariat for its assessments of the Bank’s compliance with Decision 35/13(k);

(d) to note that the only circumstances under which it would be possible for a portion of the support costs from cancelled projects and completed projects with savings not to be returned according to United Nations practice was when a fee was paid by the implementing agency to a financial intermediary to undertake a financial evaluation of the enterprise before project implementation, and the project was subsequently cancelled.