Sg sixth most costly city in Asia: Survey
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By Faris Mokhtar | Yahoo! Newsroom – 18 hours agoSingapore has jumped two places to be the sixth most expensive city in Asia, according to a global survey.
This comes on the back of a stronger local dollar against major currencies and a 5.7 per cent rise in the average price of goods and services.
For the first time, Singapore also ranked ahead of its closest competitor Hong Kong, which slipped from sixth last year to ninth position in this year.
The annual Cost of Living survey, conducted by ECA International in September this year, used indicators comprising of day-to-day goods and services such as the price of groceries, clothing and electrical goods. It measured cost of living in more than 400 cities.
Regional director of ECA International Asia Lee Quane said, “When we look at the overall cost of ECA’s basket of goods and services in Singapore a year ago, these items were 1.7 per cent less expensive in Singapore than when purchased in Hong Kong.”
“Now those same items are 8.5 per cent more expensive in Singapore than Hong Kong.”
With rising prices in the Lion City, Quane noted that this might erode some of the cost advantage that Singapore used to have over other destinations in the region.
For one, companies will now have to pay their staff a higher allowance when they send them to Singapore, she said. However, the rising prices are “unlikely” to deter companies from relocating their staff to the country, she added.
Compared to countries worldwide, Singapore rose from 42nd to 32nd position while Hong Kong, which saw an increase in the price of goods, dropped 26 places to 58th position – the largest fall among Asian cities.
"When we look at Hong Kong in a regional context, the weak dollar means that the city is now cheaper than a number of other locations including Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai, where not only has there been significant price inflation but also currencies have strengthened,” said Quane.
Meanwhile, Tokyo remains the most expensive city in Asia for the second consecutive year. It is followed by three other Japanese cities, Nagoya, Yokohama and Kobe, as well as the Korean city of Seoul.
Rounding up the top ten after Singapore is Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Busan.
The Japanese capital also topped the global ranking for the second year running, due largely to the recent sharp rise of the country’s currency. Coming in second and third are Oslo and Geneva. -
i am not surprised.
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getting to be no 1 again.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
getting to be no 1 again.
Number 1 of the world! -
Jumped to No 4 from No 8 in the world's most expensive city. This asia one Singapore is still on the top 10 list.
Who benefit from Sg being expensive? Answer: the greedy MIW.
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clap clap.
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We need to work harder so that we can be number 1.
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Originally posted by winsomeea:
Jumped to No 4 from No 8 in the world's most expensive city. This asia one Singapore is still on the top 10 list.
Who benefit from Sg being expensive? Answer: the greedy MIW.
we have a long way to go before we reached no 1 spot.
so tighten your seat belts (less money to eat due to inflation)!!!!
haha....
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no leh. i to gahmen made sg affordable to attract people here invest
how the hell did we came up on the top 10?
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"Gov. bring the inflation up! I wanna earn more money, we can show the citzens how expensive things can be, Yes we go for more than zero, number one everyone should know!"
Remember GG's the boys lyrics
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Originally posted by dragg:
we have a long way to go before we reached no 1 spot.
so tighten your seat belts (less money to eat due to inflation)!!!!
haha....
may be the millionaire, billionaire ministers are targetting Singapore jumps to the top on the list.
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the rich loves all these statistics.
it'll bring them even more wealth.
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Originally posted by dragg:
the rich loves all these statistics.
it'll bring them even more wealth.
statistics is a game.
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But ah, if we use so much cheap foreign labour, how come we are still so costly?
So perplexing.
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we are not costly, it is the govt that bring in foreigners who are costly. Millions/ billion dollars salary top the list as highest paid in the world.
Costly does not necessarily equals to capability, best performance, effective, substance and .......
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inflation inflation... but almost all flats.