- In the two years that the pandemic has lasted, another 573 mega-rich have made a fortune of billions of euros in the world. That is, every 30 hours, a rich person has overcome a significant barrier of EUR 1 billion. On the contrary, by the end of the year there will be 263 million more people in extreme poverty, one million more every 33 hours. Data provided by Oxfam Intermon.
The figures are crazy. In total, 2,668 super-rich around the world have 12.7 trillion dollars, 3.78 trillion – 3,780,000,000– more than before the pandemic. This represents 13.9% of world GDP, compared with 4.4% in 2000. In this regard, the sum of 20 richest oligarchs in the rich is higher than the GDP of all sub-Saharan African countries.
Energy, food and pharmacy
Oxfam’s latest report highlights three sectors: food, energy and pharmaceuticals. He has reported that the wealth of the rich in the food and energy sector has increased by US$ 453 billion in two years, that is, US$ 1 billion every two days. The agro-industrial companies Cargill, the Wallmart shops and the pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Pfizer appear at the top of the list. On the other hand, multinationals in the energy sector BP, Shell, Exxon and Chevron made $2,600 every second last year.
"The world leaders who will meet these days at the Davos Economy Forum face the dilemma of prioritizing the interests of the elites and the one billion who overdream this economic model or taking courageous measures to defend the majority of citizens," says Oxfam. "Fire proof?" It remains to be seen whether governments end up applying common sense, and for example decide to tax the wealth of billionaires more."