London - The cost of Brexit to UK households has been put at $1.5 trillion, according to a new report.
Household wealth in the UK slumped by 10 percent, in the 12 months to June 2016, as a “direct result” of the Brexit vote, Swiss bank Credit Suisse revealed in its latest Global Wealth Report on Tuesday. This means wealth per adult has already dropped by $33 000 to $289 000 since the end of June.
This represents one of the biggest drops in wealth among major economies, with households in Turkey and Colombia faring better than those in the UK. Only households in Mexico, Egypt Russia, Ukraine and Argentina suffered bigger losses than those in the UK.
The report, which is issued annually by Credit Suisse, said that the decline in wealth had a negative effect on the total number of millionaires in the UK.
The dramatic plunge in wealth was driven by a fall in the value of the pound, which has lost about 18 percent following UK’s decision to leave the EU.
Michael O’Sullivan of Credit Suisse, said: “The impact of the Brexit vote is widely thought of in terms of GDP (gross domestic product) but the impact on household wealth bears watching. “
Since the Brexit vote, UK household wealth has fallen by $1.5tn. Wealth per adult has already dropped by $33 000 to $289 000 since the end of June. In fact, in US dollar terms, 406 000 people in the UK are no longer millionaires.”
Inequality remains a major issue, according to Credit Suisse, with UK’s top 1 percent of richest people continuing to own 24 percent of the nation’s wealth. “The wealthiest one percent of the population – who own nearly a quarter of all the country’s wealth – continue to do well whilst so many people in Britain are just about managing to stay above the poverty line,” Oxfam spokesperson Sally Copley said.
Overall, global wealth across the world increased by $3.5 trillion to $265 trillion, the survey revealed.
Japan was the main winner with its total household wealth increasing 19 percent to $24 trillion mainly due to the value of the yen rising against the dollar. Wealth in the US climbed to $85 trillion, marking the eight straight year of increase for the world’s largest economy.
The Independent