In Spain there are four more mega-rich and the wealth of those who already were grows 6.8 million euros every day
The NGO brings its updated report on income inequality in the world to the Davos summit
In the two years of the pandemic, 573 new billionaires which is a new mega-rich every 30 hours. The total of 2,668 billionaires in the world together own 12.7 trillion dollars, which is 3.78 more than before the pandemic and a figure that is already equivalent to 13.9% of world GDP, having tripled since the year 2000, when it represented 4.4%. On the other hand, it is expected that by the end of this year, an additional 263 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty: one million more people every 33 hours. This is how he denounces it Oxfam Intermón in the report ‘Profiting from suffering’ published this Monday on the occasion of the meeting of the World Economic Forum, an annual meeting of the international elite in the Swiss city of Davos.
Every year, on the occasion of the meeting that the business and political elite celebrates in the small town in the Swiss Alps, the NGO presents its traditional report on inequality in the world that aims to serve as a counterpoint to the capitalist debate that takes place for a week in the Davos convention center. “The world leaders who are meeting in Davos these days are faced with a dilemma: put the interests of the elites and billionaires who take disproportionate advantage of this economic model first, or take courageous measures in defense of the vast majority of citizens. A trial by fire? We will see if the governments finally apply common sense and decide, for example, to tax more wealth of the billionaires,” challenges Íñigo Macías, Oxfam Intermón’s research manager.
Four more in Spain
In the Spanish case, the report shows that the number of Spanish billionaires on the Forbes list has also increased since the start of the pandemic. There are four new billionaires while the wealth of those who were already billionaires before the pandemic has grown at a rate of 6.8 million euros a day.
In its latest list, from April, Forbes includes a total of 28 names in the Spanish list of billionaires, in which the ‘top 5’ is represented by the founder of Inditex, Amancio OrtegaAnd your daughter Sandra Ortegafollowed by Juan Roigthe founder of Mercadona, Rafael del Pino y Miguel Fluxa. Rossello. The last five Spanish billionaires on the list are entrepreneurs Antonio Gallardo Ballart, Francisco Jose Riberas Mera, Jorge Gallardo Ballart, Juan Maria Riberas Mera y Carmen Daurella.
Energy, food and pharmacy
The new Oxfam Intermón study also reveals that at a global level, companies in the energy, food and pharmaceutical sectors are generally sectors dominated by a limited number of companies. “The fortunes of billionaires in the food and energy sectors have increased by 453 billion dollars in the last two years, which is equivalent to one billion every two days. In energy, the multinationals BP, Shell Totalenergies, Exxon y Chevron “Last year they pocketed $2,600 in profit per second,” it says.
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In the food sector, 62 new billionaires have emerged in this same period”, says the report. Here, the North American family Cargill Together with three other operators in the sector, they control 70% of the world agricultural market. For its part, in the pharmaceutical sector there are 40 new billionaires, with two large companies –Moderna and Pfizer- in the lead, for its dominance in the covid vaccine market.
In its document, Oxfam summarizes some of the coordinates that frame income inequality in the world: top 10 richest men in the world they have more wealth than the 3.1 billion people who make up the poorest 40% of humanity. In addition, he adds, the wealth of the 20 richest billionaires in the world exceeds the GDP of all the countries of sub-Saharan Africa combined.