Top 10 global firms richer than 180 poor countries combined, report by Oxfam

The world’s 10 biggest corporations together had revenue greater than that of the poorest 180 countries combined in 2015-16, says a new report by Oxfam, released to coincide with the World Economic Forum that opened in Davos on Monday Jan 16,2017

Holding out a warning that, if left unchecked, growing inequalities threaten to pull our societies apart, the report called upon world leaders to focus on a ‘”human economy” that “works for the 99 per cent”.

The report, “An Economy for the 99%”, said inequalities were leading to increase in crime and insecurity, and giving rise to widespread disillusionment with mainstream politics, in the process helping forces that fan racism and divisiveness, citing Brexit and Donald Trump’s campaign as examples.

“Total global wealth has reached a staggering $255 trillion. Since 2015, more than half of this wealth has been in the hands of the richest 1 per cent of people. At the very top, this year’s data finds that collectively the richest eight individuals have a net wealth of $426 billion, which is the same as the net wealth of the bottom half of humanity,” says the report, adding that “By any measure, we are living in the age of the super-rich, a second ‘gilded age’ in which a glittering surface masks social problems and corruption.

The analysis of Oxfam, an international confederation of non-profit organisations, places the super-rich as individuals who have a net worth of at least $1 billion.

“While some billionaires owe their fortunes predominantly to hard work and talent, says the report,, it adds that “one-third of the world’s billionaire wealth is derived from inherited wealth, while 43 per cent can be linked to cronyism.”

The report sees a “big role” played by big corporations in driving inequalities by maximising profits and squeezing the wages of workers and producers, by using routes such as tax dodging.

“They do this by using tax havens or by making countries compete to provide tax breaks, exemptions and lower rates. Corporate tax rates are falling all over the world, and this – together with widespread tax dodging – ensures that many corporations are paying minimal tax. Apple allegedly paid 0.005% of tax on its European profits in 2014. Developing countries lose $100 billion every year to tax dodging,” it says.

“The annual share dividends from Zara’s parent company to Amancio Ortega – the world’s second richest man – are worth €1.108 million, which is 8,000 times the annual wage of a worker employed by a supplier garment factory in India,” it adds