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The United States, UNESCO's biggest donor, cut its annual funding of over $60 million soon after the organisation admitted the Palestinians in a vote at its general conference in Paris on Monday.
Bokova had already called on Washington to reverse its decision and said Saturday that she preferred to look on the funding cut as a "temporary difficulty."
"We are currently reviewing what economies we can make by the end of the year," she said.
The organisation could try to adjust to funding cuts through reform but any loss of financial resources would sting, she added.
"The problem is very serious indeed", she said.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas made an official application for UN membership on September 23, dividing the international community.
Laws dating from the 1990s require the United States, Israel's staunchest ally, to withdraw funding from any UN agency that admits Palestine as a full member before a peace deal is reached.
Both Washington and Israel, whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ordered UNESCO funding be stopped, had lobbied the organisation to delay the vote but Bokova said Saturday this was not possible.
"Most countries decided that now is the time and took their decision... I do not think that we could have avoided that vote" she said.
Since the UNESCO membership bid was approved, Israel has accelerated Jewish settlement building on occupied Palestinian land and decided to withhold tax revenues it has collected on behalf of the Palestinians.
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Bokova had already called on Washington to reverse its decision and said Saturday that she preferred to look on the funding cut as a "temporary difficulty."
"We are currently reviewing what economies we can make by the end of the year," she said.
The organisation could try to adjust to funding cuts through reform but any loss of financial resources would sting, she added.
"The problem is very serious indeed", she said.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas made an official application for UN membership on September 23, dividing the international community.
Laws dating from the 1990s require the United States, Israel's staunchest ally, to withdraw funding from any UN agency that admits Palestine as a full member before a peace deal is reached.
Both Washington and Israel, whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ordered UNESCO funding be stopped, had lobbied the organisation to delay the vote but Bokova said Saturday this was not possible.
"Most countries decided that now is the time and took their decision... I do not think that we could have avoided that vote" she said.
Since the UNESCO membership bid was approved, Israel has accelerated Jewish settlement building on occupied Palestinian land and decided to withhold tax revenues it has collected on behalf of the Palestinians.
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