in the section under review, thus giving a total increase of 51.6 per cent, or more than $10 million, in the appropriations requested for the biennium 1984-1985 in comparison with the appropriation for the previous biennium. Even taking into account the recommendations of the Advisory Committee, the net increase in the ECWA budget seemed very high since one would have thought that local inflation would be at least partly offset by a rising dollar. 18. Although the turnover deduction had been reduced from 20 per cent to 5 per cent when preparing the programme budget proposals he thought that the Secretariat had still not been firm enough since the percentage of vacant posts had then been something between 25 and 30 per cent. The recommendation of the Advisory Committee to fix the rate at 13 per cent, with the possibility of reducing it if necessary, seemed to be justified and logical. 19. With regard to statistical services, discussed in paragraph 14.59 of the proposed programme budget, it would be noted that ECWA devoted a large part of its resources to work in that field. He was surprised therefore that there had been no ; ... A/C.5/38/SR.26 English Page 6 (Mr. Murray, United Kingdom) mention of the Headquarters Statistical Office in the description of the ECWA programme in that field. He hoped that ECWA maintained close contact with the Statistical Office in order to avoid any duplication of work. 20. Mr. FORAN (Controller), replying to the representatives of Spain and the United Kingdom, said that because of an error in methodology, the resource base for 1982-1983 had been underestimated by 15 per cent. That did not affect the final figures, but it produced a rate of inflation of 36 per cent instead of 20 per cent in table 14.1 in the proposed programme budget. 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the budget and financial aspects of an international organization, specifically the Economic Commission for Western Asia (ECWA). The language used is technical and focused on financial management, which suggests that the topic is related to economic development and management. Additionally, the mention of statistical services and the Headquarters Statistical Office further supports this hypothesis.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade