We’ve all been affected by the pandemic-induced mayhem of 2020 and this year.
But when it comes to finances, some have fared far better than others.
The scourge has exposed, fed off and increased existing inequalities of wealth, gender and race.
We’ve all been affected by the pandemic-induced mayhem of 2020 and this year.
But when it comes to finances, some have fared far better than others. The scourge has exposed, fed off and increased existing inequalities of wealth, gender and race.
Over two million people have died, and hundreds of millions of others are being forced into poverty while many of the richest – individuals and corporations – are thriving.
According to a report by Oxfam; the Inequality Virus; it took just nine months for fortunes of the top 1,000 billionaires to return to their pre-pandemic highs, while recovery for the world’s poorest people could take over a decade.
Eighty seven percent of their respondents said the virus will lead to an increase or a major rise in income inequality in their country. This included economists from 77 of the 79 countries polled in the survey.
The survey findings seem to be validated by a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report that highlighted that most low-income countries (LICs) face the risk of “a great divergence”.
The global lender said most LICs, which have had limited ability to secure significant doses, are ‘forced’ to rely almost entirely on the multilateral COVAX facility, which guarantees vaccine coverage for just 20 percent of their population.
As a result, it believes development in LICs’ will be a setback for several years and exacerbate divergence with advanced countries compared to the path expected before the crisis. LICs, which had been on a path of convergence with advanced economies in the decade up to 2019, are now expected to be hit harder economically than during the 2008 global financial crisis.
Furthermore, over half of all respondents also thought gender inequality would likely or very likely increase, and more than two thirds thought so of racial inequality. Sixty six percent also felt that their government did not have a plan in place to combat inequality.
On women, the Oxfam analysis shows that worldwide, 740 million females work in the informal economy, and during the first month of the pandemic their income fell by 60 percent, which amounts to a loss of over Sh39.6 trillion in earnings.
In addition, history will also likely remember the pandemic as the first time since records began that inequality rose in virtually every country on earth at the same time. While it is too soon to see the full picture, most initial studies point to a significant increase in inequality.
To end, here comes the big question, is the Coronavirus the world’s greatest inequality revealer? Yes, it is.
And this quote by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres best summarises this point of view:
“Covid-19 has been likened to an x-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built. It is exposing fallacies and falsehoods everywhere; the lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all; the fiction that unpaid care work is not work; the delusion that we live in a post-racist world; the myth that we are all in the same boat.”
“While we are all floating on the same sea, it’s clear that some are in super yachts, while others are clinging to the drifting debris.”
Mr Mwanyasi is the managing director at Canaan Capital
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