The ten richest people in the world have seen their fortunes double, up to 1,500 billion USD since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The rise in stock and real estate prices has widened the gap between the rich and the poor, according to Guardians.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s fortune has increased 10 times, reaching 294 billion USD in the first 20 months of the pandemic, helping him surpass Jeff Bezos – the founder of Amazon – to become the richest person in the world.
During a period of soaring tech stocks on Wall Street, Bezos’ net worth increased 67% to $203 billion, Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune doubled to $118 billion, while Microsoft founder Bill’s fortune Gates, rose 31% to $137 billion.
The net worth of the world’s 10 richest billionaires doubled during the pandemic. (Photo: Guardian)
The Oxfam report indicates that the pandemic has caused the gap between rich and poor to continue to widen. The income of 99% of the world’s population decreased from March 2020 to October 2021, while the wealth of the 10 billionaires increased by $1.3 billion per day. These 10 billionaires will take 414 years to spend their fortunes at a rate of one million dollars a day.
“The explosion of billionaire wealth amid growing poverty reflects fundamental vulnerabilities in our economy.“, said Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive officer of Oxfam GB.
Stock prices fell sharply in the early weeks of the pandemic, but surged as central banks and finance ministries around the world launched economic stimulus packages.
Record-low interest rates and increased cash flow through bond purchases have sent the stock market soaring, especially in tech companies like Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook, as demand to shop and work at house increase.
Oxfam also said that since real prices have risen during the pandemic, it adjusts for inflation using the US CPI.
The Oxfam report also draws on data from the World Bank, which shows that lack of access to health care services, hunger, gender-based violence and climate change make it every four seconds. one person died.
According to the organization, 160 million people are living on less than $5.50 a day – levels that would have been without the impact of the pandemic. The World Bank uses $5.50 a day as a measure of poverty rates in countries with lower middle incomes.
The pandemic is forcing developing countries to cut social spending as national debts rise. Gender equality is also being raised with 13 million fewer working women today than in 2019 and more than 20 million girls at risk of never going to school.
Even in times of global crisis, unfair economic systems offer attractive returns to the richest, but fail to protect the poorest, said Sriskandarajah.
Earlier this month, World Bank President David Malpass also voiced concern about rising global inequality and suggested that the impact of inflation and its remedial measures could be damaging. than for poorer countries.
Reference: The Guardian
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