Dhaka 172th costliest city, global study

Dhaka is the world’s 172th costliest city for expatriates out of 214 cities surveyed by a global consultant, Mercer, according to a report released on Tuesday.
Luanda in Angola is the world’s most expensive city while Karachi in Pakistan became the world’s least expensive city taking 214th position, according to the latest Cost of Living Survey 2010 from Mercer.
Tokyo is second and another African city, Ndjamena in Chad, took third place followed by Moscow and Geneva, according to a Mercer press release sent to New Age on Tuesday.
The survey found that Luanda is three times as costly as Karachi.
Although Dhaka became 172th costliest city, India’s Bangalore was positioned at 190th position. New Delhi is India’s most expensive city taking 85th position followed by Mumbai, 89th.
Pakistan’s Islamabad at 212th position followed by Karachi at 214th are the region’s two least expensive cities
The survey covers 214 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment, said the report.
New York is used as the base city for the index and all cities are compared against New York. Currency movements are measured against the US dollar. ‘The cost of housing – often the biggest expense for expats — plays an important part in determining where cities are ranked,’ said the report.
Elsewhere, Jakarta in Indonesia ranked 94, followed by Vietnam’s Hanoi and Thailand’s Bangkok, both at 121 and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia at 138.
Two Japanese cities, Tokyo and Osaka, have become the region’s most expensive cities taking 2nd and 6th position. Other highly ranked Asian cities are Hong Kong, 8th, Singapore 11th, Seoul 14th, Beijing 16th, Nagoya 19th, Shanghai 25th and Taipei 78th.
In the Middle East, Tel Aviv is the most expensive city at 19th spot followed by Abu Dhabi in 50th place and Dubai in 55th, while Tripoli is the cheapest at 186th, followed by Jeddah and Muscat in 181st and 176th place.
In Africa, after Luanda, Ndjamena and Gabon’s Libreville, which was positioned at 7th position, the region’s most expensive cities were Victoria in the Seychelles, 13th, Niamey in Niger 23rd and Dakar in Senegal 32nd.
‘African cities now figure prominently, reflecting the growing economic importance of the region to global companies across all business sectors,’ said Nathalie Constantin-Metral, in charge of compiling the annual survey.
In Australia, Sydney is in 24th spot followed by Melbourne on 33 and Brisbane on 55, while Adelaide is the cheapest on 90th. New Zealand has Auckland on 149th, while Wellington is the cheapest in 163rd spot.
‘At the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, residential property prices in many Asian countries rose as the economic environment began to stabilise and demand for good housing increased,’ said Constantin-Metral.
Moscow is the most expensive European city in 4th spot, ahead of Geneva in 5th, Zurich in 8th and Copenhagen in 10th, according to the rankings based on a survey conducted in March this year. London is joint 17th with Paris.

Courtesy of NewAge