According to the annual rich list published by Forbes, Bill Gates is still perched atop as the world’s richest man followed by some 792 billionaires, up 15 percent from last year with rising numbers from India, Russia, Brazil and Middle East. Bill Gates increased his fortune by 400 million USD and his net worth this year is almost 50 billion USD. Just a breath away from Gates is investor Warren Buffett at 42 billion dollars, Mexican industrialist Carlos Slim at 30 billion dollars and Sweden’s Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad at 28 billion dollars. Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal was fifth at 23.5 billion dollars, followed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen at 22 billion dollars and French luxury goods king Bernard Arnault at 21.5 billion dollars. Saudi business magnate Prince al-Waleed bin Talal al-Saud has 20 billion dollars for eighth place, followed by Canadian publisher Kenneth Thomson at 19.6 billion dollars and Hong Kong property magnate Li Ka-shing at 18.8 billion dollars. The Czech Republic had its first billionaire ever. China has eight, up from just two last year. India’s magnates experienced the highest growth, adding 10 names to the list for a total of 23. With a combined net worth of 99 billion dollars, the group surpassed the 67 billion dollars net worth of Japan’s 27 billionaires. Russia added seven new members to the list for a total of 33, with a total net worth of 172 billion dollars, up from 91 billion dollars a year ago. Brazil doubled its number of billionaires to 16, while in the Middle East and Africa, including Turkey, there were 56 billionaires, up from 29 last year. ‘Why is this list growing?’ asked Forbes chief executive and editor-in-chief Steve Forbes, himself a billionaire. ‘The global economy has been growing the last two years at rates not seen since World War II, fuelled by a commodities boom with a whiff of inflation.’ The combined net worth of the world’s billionaires was estimated at 2.6 trillion dollars and the increase is largely due to soaring stock, oil and commodities prices