Islamabad : Former President ICCI Shahid Rasheed Butt on Wednesday said coronavirus has exposed the governments and elite class all over the world as the poor across the world are facing unprecedented hardships.

Almost all the governments, with a few exceptions are rewarding billionaires with bailout packages, tax breaks and other benefits in the garb of providing relief to the masses, he said.

The virus has inflicted harm on the poor and middle-class but rich are getting benefits which have multiplied their wealth increasing the inequality, he added.

Shahid Rasheed Butt said that the virus has devastated businesses and jobs but the governments in rich countries are only concerned with the welfare of rich amid pandemic while the situation in developing and poor nations is much graver.

Masses are kept busy in non-issues, while blessings are being showered upon those billionaires who do not need any assistance, he observed.

The virus has killed 2.4 million people so far while the assets of rich in America have jumped by 1.5 trillion dollars which expose the real motives behind the packages. The collective wealth of the world’s billionaires rose $3.9 trillion between March and December 2020 to reach $11.95 trillion that is enough to vaccinate everyone on this planet.

Majority of the countries are cutting developmental expenditures to gift the saved money to the influential which is reducing space for the poor and resulting in more inequalities and discrimination, he observed.

He said that the inclination of the majority of the governments to rob poor to reward rich is a great threat to the global peace and that the situation can only improve if masses hold their elected representatives accountable.