Oxfam reveals how, despite the crisis, the wealthiest billionaires regained their pre-pandemic wealth in just 9 months when it could take more than 10 years for the poorest people to recover from the economic impacts of the crisis. pandemic.
The trend is the same in France: French billionaires have not only regained their pre-crisis fortunes but they have even become richer: they earned 175 billion € between March and December 2020. This is the equivalent of twice the budget of the French public hospital. It is also the 3rd highest increase in wealth after the United States and China!
Over the whole of 2020, despite the crisis, Bernard Arnault’s fortune increased by 44 billion euros, a jump of 41%. Meanwhile, a million people would have fallen into poverty in France in 2020, according to charities, and there are 8 million beneficiaries of food aid (+2.5 million than before the crisis).
Oxfam calls for measures to protect the poorest and to tackle inequalities at the root: investing heavily in public services (education, health, social protection); revalue social minima and low wages, especially in the care sector (health and social) and require large fortunes and large companies to pay their fair share of taxes.
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Article published on January 25, 2021
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