Inequality report

The latest Oxfam report is an eye-opening document. We knew about the poverty prevalent in countries such as Pakistan but the finding that Asia’s richest one percent now own more wealth than the poorest 90 percent is disturbing. Oxfam has proposed imposition of a wealth tax of two to five percent on Asia’s multimillionaires and billionaires, by which an additional $776 billion can be raised to increase public spending on health in the region by 60 percent. The report, ‘Rising to the Challenge’, focuses on the alleviation of poverty and suggests remedial actions. According to the report, the impact of Covid-19 combined with the existing inequality has set back equitable development in the region by decades. For Pakistan, existing economic policies have compounded the problem as most of the recent changes are rigged in the favour of the wealthy.

We have witnessed how the government allows the rich to accumulate incredible amounts of wealth and the poorest cannot even dream of catching up a little in the face of narrowing chances for them. The impact of Covid-19 has been devastating as it took away millions of jobs and pushed another millions into poverty. Though governments across the region – including that of Pakistan – tend to downplay the harrowing circumstances low-income communities have been going through, the existing inequality has set back equitable development. The report further reveals that 50 percent of Pakistani households are unable to receive medical attention due to lack of financial resources. This is a fairly high number and reflects the poor medical care that most people end up receiving, if at all.

All this calls for long-term and progressive policies to tackle not only the current pandemic but ensuing inequality crisis. Though it is a bit unfair to blame Covid-19 for inequality in society – as even before the pandemic huge gaps were there between the rich and the poor – at least the report has drawn the attention of our policymakers to go beyond short-term remedies and work on permanent policies for poverty eradication. The economic managers of the country – rather than downplaying the crisis – must admit that increasing inequality has devastated lives and livelihoods, compounded by the pandemic. As billionaires grow their wealth in real estate and other businesses and buy cars worth tens of millions of rupees, the plight of regular folks is unbearable. The staggering rise of inequality as the report has underscored must be set off by equitable development policies and projects across the country.