The world's 722 largest corporations make more than $1 trillion (£780 billion) in windfall profits each year as energy costs and interest rates rise, according to an analysis by development charities.

The firms made $1.08 trillion in 2021 and $1.09 trillion last year, according to Oxfam and ActionAid's study of Forbes magazine statistics. The aggregate profits were 89% greater than the preceding four-year average from 2017 to 2020. Windfall profits are those that outperform average profits over the previous four years by greater than 10%.

Windfall profits were highest in the energy sector. According to the analysis, the 45 energy firms on Forbes' list of the 2,000 largest companies made an average of $237 billion in windfall profits per year in 2021 and 2022. The spike in energy revenues resulted in the birth of 96 energy billionaires, with a combined worth of almost $432 billion - roughly $50 billion more than in April of last year.

During a cost-of-living crisis in which more than a quarter of a billion people in 58 nations experienced acute food insecurity in 2022, several food and beverage industries, banks, pharmaceutical companies, and shops reported a boom in profits. These earnings have fueled suspicions of "greedflation," or exorbitant price hikes that drive up inflation.

Read next: UK going into recession in less than two years: Former US Treasury Sec

According to the analysis introduced in the report, 18 food and beverage companies generated an average of $14 billion in windfall profits every year in 2021 and 2022. Global food prices are anticipated to grow by more than 14% by 2022.

Furthermore, it discovered that 28 pharmaceutical corporations made an average of $47 billion in windfall profits per year, and 42 major retailers and supermarkets made an average of $28 billion. Finally, it discovered that nine aerospace and defense businesses made an average of $8 billion in windfall profits.

"These eye-watering excess profits are not only immoral, but we are also seeing increasing evidence that a corporate bonanza is supercharging inflation, leaving millions of people in the UK and around the world struggling to pay their bills and feed their families," said Katy Chakrabortty, Oxfam's head of advocacy.

She explained that “when the windfall profits of 18 food and beverage corporations are more than twice the amount needed to cover the shortfall in life-saving assistance to tens of millions of people facing hunger in East Africa, it is clear governments need to act."

“We need to see windfall taxes introduced across the board and an end to this racket, where rich shareholders are rewarded at the expense of everyone else.”

Read next: Millions in UK facing hunger: Survey