A report has found that the fall-out from Brexit has reduced UK household wealth, by a huge sum, in the months since the British public voted to leave the EU. The sky-high figure of £1.5 trillion was slashed from the pockets of UK citizens.
The report, by Credit Suisse, also found that the number of people in the UK who have more than one million dollars has reduced by almost 15 per cent, one of the largest drops in any major economy, and was mainly caused by a reduction in property prices at the top end of the market.
Many people won’t have much sympathy for people who are already very wealthy, however, it does signify a worrying amount of damage to UK householders.
The report, Global Wealth 2016, said that the decision to leave the EU had a damaging effect on the value of the pound on the stock market.
Credit Suisse said in the report: “The United Kingdom had a tumultuous end to 2015 – 2016, with sharp declines in the [foreign] exchange rate and the stock market following the vote to leave the EU in the June 23 referendum. Nevertheless, as of the end of June, wealth per adult in pounds sterling was 6% above its level a year earlier. The stock market recovered later, but the outlook is very uncertain, both for the economy and household wealth.”
The report found that total global wealth in 2016 edged up 1.4%, or $3.5tn, to $256tn in line with the increase in the world’s adult population. In terms of millionaires, around 596,000 more were added across the globe, making a grand total of 32.9 million people who are sitting pretty with vast personal wealth. Over 90% of the wealthiest people in the world live in developed nations.
Meanwhile the UK Government has been accused of having “no idea what Brexit means.” German MEP Manfred Weber, chairman of the centre-right European People’s Party, said: “There is no idea what Brexit really means. Today, in my talk with David Davis, unfortunately I have not heard anything new, I have not heard much as to how the British Government wants to tackle Brexit and what Brexit really means.”