Pandemic sweeping poor into further poverty

It likely will take more than a decade for the world’s poor to recover from the economic impact of the coronavirus, according to a new Oxfam International report. Economic inequality that deepens economic, racial and gender divides around the globe is increasing, meaning that it will take those living in poverty 14 times longer to reach pre-pandemic economic levels compared to the world’s richest 1,000 people, who are mostly white, male billionaires, the NGO reported. Some 87% of respondents to the group’s survey, primarily economists from 79 countries, expect to see an increase or a major increase in income inequality in their countries due to the pandemic.