Singapore: world’s most expensive city for third year

Singapore: world’s most expensive city for third year (Source:internet)

Singapore (VNA) - Singapore is the world’s most expensive city for the third consecutive year, according to an annual report of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), an economic research agency of The Economist magazine.

As per EIU, expenditures of buying and running a personal car in the island country are 2.7 times higher than New York City (the US). It is also the world’s most expensive place to buy clothes and pay for utilities.

The survey showed the world’s five most expensive cities this year including Singapore, Zurich, Hong Kong (China) , Geneva (Switzerland) and Paris (France).

In contrast, Lusaka, capital of Zambia, and India’s Bangalore and Mumbai are the world’s cheapest cities to live.

The EIU’s latest worldwide cost of living report is a twice yearly survey that compares more than 400 individual prices across 160 products and services (converted to USD), among 133 cities worldwide. New York City is determined as the base comparison city for the survey.

The price comparison include food, clothing, household supplies and personal care items; home rents, transport, utility bills, private schools, domestic help and recreational costs.

The EIU’s experts highlighted that this year’s list saw a significant change due to a rise in US dollar value coupled with devaluation in some currencies and a fall in petroleum and gas prices.

Both Melbourne and Sydney, Australia dropped out of the world’s top 10 this year, falling to 20 th and 21 st place respectively – due to a weak Australian dollar.-VNA