Governments need to take urgent action to combat inequality, says Oxfam

The combination of COVID-19, rising inequality, and rising food prices could push as many as 263 million people into extreme poverty in 2022, Oxfam said

Governments need to take urgent action to tackle rising inequality which emerged over the COVID-19 crisis with a surge in energy and food prices ramping up pressures on millions of people around the world, Oxfam said on Monday.

The report, released by the Nairobi-based charity as top policy makers and industry chiefs arrive in the Swiss town of Davos for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), found the number of billionaires had risen by 573 to just under 2,700 from 2020.

Their cumulative wealth had risen by nearly $3.8 trillion to $12.7 trillion, the charity found, analysing data from