Fortunes of British richest soar by a third

LONDON -- The richest people in Britain have seen a record boom in wealth over the past year, according to a report by The Sunday Times.

The fortunes of super-rich have soared by 30 percent even though much of British is struggling to recover from recession and the near-collapse of the banking system, the report said. It is the largest rise in wealth since the list was first published 21 years ago.

Much of the increase is a result of the rebound in stock markets and property values after the government injected hundreds of billions of pounds into banks and the wider economy to stave off collapse, the report said.

The 2010 Sunday Times Rich List, published on Sunday, reveals that the 1,000 riches people in the country increased their wealth by 77 billion pounds ($117 billion) last year, bringing their total wealth to 335.5 billion pounds (about $516.67 billion) -- equal to more than one-third of the national debt.

The number of billionaires has risen from 43 to 53, with nine seeing their wealth rise by 1 billion pounds (about $1.54 billion) or more during the past 12 months.

Top of the pile again this year is Lakshmi Mittal, the steel tycoon. His fortune has doubled to 22 billion pounds (about $33.8 billion), thanks to the recovery in steel markets.

More controversially, a host of City bankers and financiers have seen their fortunes rise sharply after the financial system was rescued from melt-down by taxpayers.

(Source: China Daily)