What Are The Top Five Global Inequalities The COVID-19 Has Highlighted?

What are the top five global inequalities the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted?  What is the impact the pandemic has left on the global halal industry and on individual businesses? How are halal businesses coping with the issues associated with coronavirus?  How has the pandemic affected the global economy? These and several other questions are needed to be addressed comprehensively to get a better understanding of how the players in the global halal and Islamic finance industries can cope with the alarming effects of the COVID-19?

However, in the following blog post, we will just touch upon the issues the spread of the epidemic has affected our societies.  Various sections of our communities around the globe have been exposed due to the widespread pandemic.  It is severely impacting the stability of many countries all over the world.

Top Five Global Inequalities Due To COVID-19 Pandemic

According to the World Economic Forum, there are top five global inequalities the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted in the last few months. These inequalities are as follows.

• Access To Healthcare
• Access to green spaces
• Access to the Internet
• Ability and means to work remotely
• Accessibility for the disabled

Inequalities Were Already Increasing Before Coronavirus

Global inequalities were already increasing before the coronavirus became widespread. According to the data compiled by the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), these inequalities have been increasing fast since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. The COVID-19 has only exacerbated these socio-economic issues almost everywhere in the world.

How To Reduce Global Inequalities?

The answer to the question of how to reduce global inequalities may not be an easy one. These inequalities have persisted for a long time. They can not be eliminated altogether due to the nature of the economic systems the world economies follow. However, they can be alleviated within a reasonable time frame if both the private and public stakeholders of countries make concerted efforts to do so.

Various governments have offered generous fiscal stimulus packages to low-income households.  They have provided support to low-income groups in the form of direct cash transfer, food aid, wage subsidies, unemployment benefits, and the deferment of utility bills and rent support. However, in the vast majority of the countries, the poor are still suffering heavily as their governments have not been able to support them sufficiently.

The private sector such as business entities and NGOs and wealthy individuals can also contribute to reducing the global inequalities mentioned above. In some respects, their support may be effective as they can support the most vulnerable group of societies more effectively and rapidly.

Governments and the private sector in Muslim-majority countries can use the ZXakat system to help alleviate these inequalities.