UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “has instructed senior managers to prepare a budget with a 3 percent reduction as compared with the previous budget,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said Wednesday.

The reduction would save 5.4 billion U.S. dollars, the spokesman told reporters here at a daily news briefing.

The secretary-general has stressed to his senior advisors that they should be creative in seeing where they can find savings, he said.

Ban told senior managers that “We must be realistic about the current economic climate. Even the wealthiest nations are tightening their belts and cutting budgets. The United Nations must be no less disciplined. We cannot go about business as usual, ” Nesirky said.

The final UN budget has to be approved by the 192-member UN General Assembly.

“The secretary-general added that it will be up to member states to discuss and decide on the ultimate budget to be adopted,” Nesirky said. “He also encourages all UN entities and UN Member States to find ways to do more with less.”