Davos (Switzerland): Even as the world is battling the coronavirus pandemic, billionaires have increased their wealth by over $3 trillion, according to a latest report by non-profit group Oxfam.
The report titled “The Inequality Virus” will be tabled at the World Economic Forum’s online Davos Agenda Summit on Monday.
Reinforcing the frightening income inequalities between the world’s super-rich and the hundreds of millions of people who live and die in abject poverty, the report said, “Worldwide, billionaires’ wealth increased by a staggering $3.9 trillion between March 18 and December 31, 2020… The world’s 10 richest billionaires have seen their wealth increase by $540 billion over this period.
“At the same time, the pandemic saw hundreds of millions of people lose their jobs and face destitution and hunger… It is estimated that the total number of people living in poverty could have increased by between 200 million and 500 million,” it added.
“The pandemic has exposed the fact that most people on Earth – who live on between $2 and $10 per day – are just one pay check away from penury,” Oxfam said, while those with billions in their pockets purchased private jets when commercial travel was banned.
According to “The Inequality Virus”, NDT reported, the increase in the wealth — just since the crisis began — of the world’s 10 richest billionaires is “more than enough to prevent anyone on Earth from falling into poverty because of the virus, and to pay for a COVID-19 vaccine for everyone”.
“The coronavirus crisis has shown us that for most of humanity, there has never been a permanent exit from poverty and insecurity… makes no common, moral or economic sense to allow billionaires to profit from the crisis in the face of such suffering,” the report stressed.
“Their increasing wealth should be used instead to save millions of lives and billions of livelihoods,” it added.
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