Oxfam to G20: Take Action on Global Extreme Inequality

Ignoring rising inequality around the world risks trapping millions in poverty and stunting economic growth, Oxfam said on Tuesday.

In a report released before the upcoming G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, the aid agency called on world leaders to address the crisis by investing in public services and cracking down on tax havens for wealthy corporations, which costs poor countries $100 billion annually.

Reducing income inequality could lift millions out of poverty in developing countries like Kenya, India, and Indonesia, according to the report, titled Turn the Tide: The G20 Must Act on Rising Inequality, Starting With Fairer Global Tax Reform (pdf). “Inequality hinders growth, corrupts politics, stifles opportunity and fuels instability,” it states.

In the last year, total wealth in the G20 has increased by $17 trillion, but 36 percent of it—$6.2 trillion—belongs to the richest one percent of people on the planet, Oxfam said. Even as wealthy countries gather more and more wealth, over half of the world’s poor live in G20 countries—those considered to be economic global leaders.

Those nations have pledged to raise the level of their output by at least two percent above the current five-year level projection, but Oxfam Australia chief Helen Szoke told Agence France Presse that promises of economic jump-starts and job creation are meaningless without “inclusive growth”—economic activity that benefits every sector of society.

“The widening gap between rich and poor is increasing… so inequality is becoming more pronounced,” Szoke said. “Inequality in and of itself is problematic for those people who are left behind but we also know that you can’t actually achieve growth unless you address this issue of inequality.”