Colombo among cheapest cities in the world

5 February 2013 04:15 am Views - 18203

Sri Lanka’s Colombo is one of the least expensive cities in the world, according to an annual survey released on Monday.

Mumbai in India and Karachi in Pakistan were the joint cheapest locations in the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) worldwide cost of living index survey followed by New Delhi, the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu and Algerian capital of Algiers, reuters reported.

While Asia and Australasia is home to 11 of the 20 most expensive cities, the region is also home to six of the 10 cheapest.

Referring to India and its forecasts for growth, the EIU said: "Income inequality means that household spending levels are low on a per capita basis, which has kept prices down, especially by Western standards."

Rounding out the bottom 10 were Bucharest in Romania, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Panama City, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, and Iranian capital Tehran.

The cost of living the Australian dream has surged with Sydney and Melbourne among the five most expensive cities in the world, outstripping most European and US locations, according to an annual survey released on Monday.

Asia and Australasia account for 11 of the world's top 20 most expensive cities, with eight from Europe and one from South America, the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) worldwide cost of living index found. No North American cities featured in the top 20.

This compared to a decade ago when there were six Asian cities, 10 European cities and four US cities in the top 20 of the list that calculates living costs in 131 cities in 93 countries and is used by companies for costing when relocating staff.

In the 2013 survey, Tokyo reclaimed the title as the world's most expensive city. Currency swings pushed Zurich into the No.1 position last year but government exchange rate controls have driven the Swiss city back to No.7 in the list.

Osaka in Japan was ranked the second most expensive.

Jon Copestake, editor of the EIU Worldwide Cost of Living Index, said one of the most notable changes was the rising costs in Australia, with Sydney third in the list and Melbourne fifth. Sandwiched between them was Oslo in Norway.

"Ten years ago there were no Australian cities in the top 50 most expensive cities and I have not seen this sort of climb with any other cities," Mr Copestake told Reuters.

"But economic growth has supported inflation and the strength of the Australian dollar against other currencies besides the US dollar has driven up costs. Visitors will certainly feel the difference and people living there will have noticed prices have crept up," he added.

The survey is based on costs of over 160 items ranging from food and clothing, to domestic help, transport and utilities.