US economy lost $16 trillion in last 20 years due to racial wealth gaps: Report

The United States economy lost $16 trillion in the past 20 years due to key racial gaps for Black Americans in wages, housing, education, and investment said Citigroup in its latest report. The average Black family in the United States owns only one-tenth of the wealth of the average white family. The narrow this gap, the Citigroup has pledged $1 billion in strategic investments over the next three years, which will be aimed at removing the barriers that impede communities of colour from building generational wealth. 

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"Today, after assessing how we can improve the ways we do business, we are unveiling a set of initiatives to help close the racial wealth gap and increase economic mobility in the U.S. We are calling this sweeping approach Action for Racial Equity. We hope it will be a guiding light for our company and inform and add to our work for years to come," the American lender said in its report. 

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Citigroup said that by increasing their annual spend on diverse suppliers, they will help more Black entrepreneurs get the financing they need to start and grow their businesses. The Bank said that it is going to tackle the homeownership crisis in the community of colour by increasing access to mortgages and by supporting minority developers who are building affordable and workforce housing. Citigroup added that if the wealth gap is closed it would help add $5 trillion to the American economy over the next five years. 

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Anti-racism protests

The United States has been witnessing anti-racism protests for the past couple of months, particularly after the killing of an African-American man George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was killed by a white police officer named Derek Chauvin after the latter pinned him down on the ground with his knee and remained in the position for about eight minutes. After the video of the incident went viral, people took to the streets to demand racial equality and reforms in policing.  

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(Image Credit: AP)