The US State Department may be unable to cover the projected costs of its consular affairs operations if revenues do not quickly rebound to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2022) The US State Department may be unable to cover the projected costs of its consular affairs operations if revenues do not quickly rebound to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Monday.
"GAO modeled State's future consular fee revenue stream and costs through fiscal year 2026," the report said. "The modeling indicates that State's carryover balances will decline and likely will not meet the targeted threshold for the consular fee carryover balance in some fiscal years if fee revenue does not return to pre-pandemic levels in fiscal year 2022 and beyond."
The scenarios used pessimistic, neutral and optimistic revenue outlook projections based on historical consular fee revenue from fiscal years 2013 through 2020, the report said.
Even if consular fee revenue recovers to pre-pandemic levels in fiscal year 2023, the GAO said it estimated that the carryover balance was unlikely to meet the targeted threshold each year through fiscal year 2026.
The carryover balance would be $151 million in fiscal year 2026 - hundreds of millions of Dollars below the targeted threshold, the report said.
