COVID-19: Wealth of world's 10 richest men doubled during pandemic, reports Oxfam

The global COVID-19 pandemic has made the 10 richest men in the world wealthier but has also widened the gap between rich and poor, according to the charity Oxfam. The report claimed that the lower incomes for the world’s poorest contributed to the death of 21,000 people each day. However, the world’s 10 richest men have more than doubled their collective fortunes since March 2020, the charity said. 

Oxfam stated that the World Bank figures showed that around 163 million more people had been driven below the poverty line while the rich were benefitting from the stimulus provided by governments across the globe to mitigate the impact of the virus. The charity revealed that the incomes of 99% of the world’s population had reduced from March 2020 to October 2021, when Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk and the nine richest billionaires had been collectively growing richer by $1.3 billion a day. 

While citing Forbes magazine’s billionaires' list, Oxfam said that Musk saw his wealth increase 10-fold to $249 billion in the first 20 months of the pandemic. The net worth of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also rose 67% to $203 billion. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg wealth doubled to $118 billion, while the wealth of Microsoft founder Bill Gates increased by 31% to $137 billion.  

According to The Guardian, Danny Sriskandarajah, the Oxfam GB chief executive said, “The explosion in billionaires’ fortunes at a time when poverty is increasing lays bare the fundamental flaws in our economies. Even during a global crisis our unfair economic systems manage to deliver eye-watering windfalls for the wealthiest but fail to protect the poorest. It is an avoidable tragedy that every day people die because they lack essentials such as food and healthcare.”

Oxfam urges governments to levy taxes on capital and wealth

Sriskandarajah went on to urge governments to levy taxes on capital and wealth. He said that a one-off 99% windfall tax on the COVID wealth gains of the 10 richest men could pay for enough jabs to vaccinate the entire world and provide the resources to tackle climate change, provide universal healthcare and social protection and even address gender-based violence in 80 countries. “Governments have a historic opportunity to back bold economic plans based on greater equality that change the deadly course we are on,” he added. 

According to Forbes figures cited by the charity, the world's 10 richest men are - Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault and family, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Ballmer and Warren Buffet. Oxfam said the 10 richest men own six times as much wealth as the bottom 40%. It would take the 10 billionaires 414 years to spend their combined wealth at a rate of a million dollars each per day, the charity added.

(Image: AP)