By Ritah Kemigisa
A new report by OXFAM dubbed the Inequality Virus has revealed that covid19 pandemic has worsened income inequality gap with over 1000 of the richest people having their wealth rise after recovering their losses in just nine months as the world’s poorest will have to face longer years of hardship.
The report that will be published at the opening day of the Virtual World Economic forum’s Davos Agenda further shows that 10 billionaires including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk have seen their combined wealth increase by half a trillion dollars since the pandemic began more than enough to pay for a COVID-19 vaccine for everyone and to ensure no one is pushed into poverty by the pandemic.
According to the report, the pandemic has ushered in the worst job crisis in over 90 years with hundreds of millions of people now underemployed or out of work and the woman hit hardest.
The Executive Director of Oxfam International, Gabriela Bucher says much as extreme inequality is not inevitable, it is a policy choice.
She asks governments around the world to seize this opportunity to protect the planet by taxing the rich protecting workers.
“The fight against inequality must be at the heart of economic rescue and recovery efforts. Governments must ensure everyone has access to a COVID-19 vaccine and financial support if they lose their job. They must ensure the richest individuals and corporations contribute their fair share of tax to pay for It,” said Bucher.
