Wealth of billionaires rises to $10.2 trillion amid coronavirus crisis

The wealth of the world'sbillionaires has reached a new high amid the coronavirus crisis according to a latest report by Swiss banka report by UBS.

The report found thatbillionaires did ''extremely well'' as a rally in stock prices and gains in technology and healthcare helped the wealth of the world's richest break the $10 trillion mark.

It covered over 2,000billionaires representing some 98 per centof the cohort's total wealth. The report statesbillionairewealth grew by more than a quarter during the early months of the pandemic to reach $10.2 trillion in July, breaking the previous record of $8.9 trillion at the end of 2019.

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According to theUBS and PwC database,25 years agobillionairewealth stood at just over $1 trillion, but there has beenfive- to ten-fold rise over the period of time.

Between April 7 and July 31 this year,billionaires across every industry covered by the study saw their wealth rise by double digits, withbillionaires in the technology, healthcare and industrial sectors leading the pack with 36 per cent to 44per centgains.

The pandemic accelerated a trend of technology and healthcare entrepreneurs, and other business innovators, pulling ahead of their ultra-rich peers.

From 2018 through July 2020, techbillionaires saw their wealth rise 42.5per centto $1.8 trillion, the report found, whilebillionaires deriving their fortune from healthcare similarly saw their wealth rise 50.3per centduring the period to $658.6 billion.

Just over 200 of thosebillionaires publicly committed some $7.2 billion to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, the study found, noting thatbillionairedonations to combat the medical crisis as well as the societal and economic turmoil it caused were likely actually higher.