How (and why) Nigeria should remove its fuel subsidy
5/5/2023: Nigeria spends a quarter of its budget on a regressive fuel subsidy. Removing it and distributing the savings can help the poorest. A defining moment for Nigerians could come after the swearing-in of Nigeria’s new president on 29 May.
Source: African Arguments
Richest 1% are winners in global wealth since 2020 crisis
16/1/2023: An Oxfam report finds that the richest 1% of the world’s population grabbed nearly two-thirds of all new wealth created since 2020. The number and wealth of billionaires has doubled over the last ten years.
Source: Oxfam International
UN rights expert calls for end to discrimination against poverty
7/11/2022: The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights believes that progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals depends on stamping out negative attitudes towards the millions of people worldwide who are struggling just to get by.
Source: UN News
Will Africa’s metals boom suffer the same curse as oil?
25/10/2022: African soil is rich in manganese, cobalt, nickel and lithium - crucial ingredients in clean energy technology. But the exploitation of resources in Africa has a long history of unequal distribution of wealth, corruption, environmental damage and rights violations.
Source: The East African
Fuel subsidy cuts won’t scratch Indonesian president
19/10/2022: Indonesia has remained stable in the weeks following an unpopular cut to the government’s fuel subsidy. As with all fuel subsidies, a large share of the benefits go to the middle-class. Poorer Indonesians would be better protected through targeted economic relief.
Source: East Asia Forum
Lifting 100 million out of poverty by 2025 still possible
17/10/2022: The latest update of the Multidimensional Poverty Index demonstrates that nearly twice as many people should be recognised as living in poverty compared with those assessed by the single monetary benchmark of $1.90 per day. It suggests that cutting-edge data and analytics can pinpoint the areas where spending will have the most impact.
Source: UN News
Report confirms inequality explosion during pandemic
11/10/2022: A new index finds that the overwhelming majority of governments have cut their shares of health, education and social protection spending since the 2020 outbreak of the pandemic. At the same time, they have refused to raise taxes on excessive profits and soaring wealth.
Source: Oxfam International
World Bank: Extreme poverty here to stay
5/10/2022: The World Bank reports that extreme poverty increased by 71 million in 2020, the biggest single-year leap in more than 30 years. COVID-19 has ended years of progress. Without a massive hike in economic growth, some 574 million people — roughly 7% of the global population — will remain in extreme poverty in 2030.
Source: DW
Global cost-of-living crisis sending tens of millions into poverty
7/7/2022: 71 million people in the developing world have fallen into poverty in the last three months as a direct consequence of global food and energy price surges. A UN report finds that cash transfers targeted to poor households are more equitable and cost-effective than blanket subsidies.
Source: UN Development Programme
Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours
23/5/2022: For every new billionaire created during the pandemic, nearly a million people could be pushed into extreme poverty, reveals a new Oxfam brief published at the World Economic Forum. Oxfam says that the super-rich have seized a shocking amount of the world’s wealth, whilst gutting regulation and workers’ rights.
Source: Oxfam International