March 24, 2005
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE is now a more expensive city than New York, largely because of the fall in the US dollar, according to a global cost-of-living survey.
It fell two notches to 19th place in the biannual Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey of more than 130 cities.
Japan's Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe remained the world's most expensive cities to live in, while Manila and Mumbai were among the cheapest, the survey showed yesterday.
The falling US dollar has made American cities cheaper. New York, assigned an index reading of 100 and ranked the 23rd most expensive city in the world, down from 13th a year ago, served as the basis of comparison.
A basket of goods and services was used to calculate individual indices, with currency strength playing a key role because local prices are converted into US dollars.
Tokyo's index reading stood at a whopping 141 and the Osaka-Kobe zone's was 136. London, in seventh place, had a reading of 121.
'The position of Tokyo and Osaka as the world's most expensive cities disguises a much more varied picture in the Asian region,' the EIU said in a press statement.
'Australia and New Zealand have seen sharp rises in relative cost of living, thanks to currency strength - Wellington and Auckland rose the highest number of places.' The two New Zealand cities were tied at 39th place on an index reading of 91.
Besides Singapore, other Asia-Pacific cities in the top 25 were Hong Kong in 12th place, down from seventh a year ago; Seoul in 25th place, down from 19th, along with Sydney, up from 27th. -- AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Partly because USD value dropped....