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For every new billionaire created during the pandemic — one every 30 hours — nearly a million people could be pushed into extreme poverty in 2022 at nearly the same rate, reveals a new Oxfam brief today. “Profiting from Pain” is published as the World Economic Forum — the exclusive get-together of the global elite in Davos — takes place for the first time face-to-face since COVID-19, a period during which billionaires have enjoyed a huge boost to their fortunes. 

A Eurozone breakup could cost the world’s poorest countries $30 billion in lost trade and foreign investment, international agency Oxfam has warned ahead of the G20 leaders meeting in Mexico to discuss the state of the global economy.

"In lieu of global cooperation and solidarity, pharmaceutical companies are being empowered to act as kingmakers ―deciding who lives and who dies― and using this new-found power to extract subsidies and potentially high prices for new COVID-19 vaccines," said Oxfam today in response to reports that French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi, will prioritize the US for any new COVID-19 vaccine.

Given the tremendous financing needs, Oxfam supports a strong IDA20 replenishment. We are calling for a robust policy package that is appropriately ambitious for the next three years, aimed at propelling IDA countries forward towards a just economy after COVID-19 that is more equal and inclusive.

The Food and Agricultural Organisation's Food Price Index has today revealed that global food prices have remained at peak levels.

Responding to the commitments made by the G20 today to combat the Coronavirus, Chema Vera, Oxfam International’s Interim Executive Director, said: “On the day that Imperial College London has warned that close to 40 million lives could be lost without urgent action, the world’s richest governments are still only warming up to the scale of the task.

Yemenis are battling a third wave of COVID, which threatens 99 per cent of the population who are unvaccinated, Oxfam said today.  

G20 countries are receiving $136 million every day in debt repayments from the world’s poorest countries at a time when up to 828 million people are facing hunger.

On the eve of the G8 Summit in Canada, international agency Oxfam warned that G8 aid promises due in 2010 have been missed by as much as $20 billion dollars – twice the gap admitted by world leaders. The G8 must deliver on their promises to poor people and invest in their future.

“The pharmaceutical industry’s attempt to rubbish the World Health Organisation’s initiative suggests that they care more for profits than people’s health," said Anna Marriott, Health Policy Manager for Oxfam, in response to the World Health Organisation’s call for governments to back a voluntary scheme to share trial data and patents relating to vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus.