Tuesday June 27, 2006

Number of global millionaires grows

napavalleyregister.com, news.yahoo.com :

The ranks of the world's millionaires swelled by more than half a million people last year to 8.7 million, according to a study released by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini. The study, the 10th annual World Wealth Report, said the number of millionaires grew more than 6% last year and has nearly doubled since 4.5 million millionaires counted in 1996.

According to the report, the wealth of the millionaires - who are defined as people with financial assets of at least $1 million, excluding their primary residences - totaled $33.3 trillion in 2005, up 8.5% from $30.7 trillion in 2004. There were 85,400 "ultra-high net worth" individuals with financial assets of more than $30 million in 2005, a 10.2% increase from 77,500 of them in 2004.

"Economic growth and market capitalization were the two main drivers of wealth creation," Robert J. McCann, executive vice president of Merrill Lynch, told a news conference in New York. McCann said, however, that this was expected to slow in the next few years as central banks raise interest rates, higher oil prices affect consuming nations and a slowing Chinese economy has a "ripple effect" on other Asian nations.

(2006-06-27 12:20:17 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

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