Cape Town and Jozi in Top 20 cheapest cities in the world

Source: Traveller24, 18/09/2016

Cape Town - The Mother City and Johannesburg in South Africa has been
named in the Top 20 cheapest cities in the world for expatriate
employees to live and work in, according to a global survey done by
Mercer Global.

The list, ranking the world's most expensive and inexpensive cities
for expatriates,compared expenses in 207 cities across five
continents, based on the calculation of the prices of 200 goods and
services including housing, entertainment, food, transport and education.

In this survey, Cape Town was ranked the eighth cheapest city, and
Johannesburg placed at number 17.

It is important to remember, however, that Mercer calculated the
cities' cost of living for expatiates according to the dollar, which
is significantly higher than the South African Rand at the moment.

Hence, while Mercer calculated how much it would cost expats to enjoy
the same standard of living in each city, South African cities' cost
would have been lower from the get-go.

The rand-dollar exchange rate on Monday, 22 June was R12.14 to 1$.
Mercer also used standards of living in New York city as a 'norm' to
calculate the other cities' cost of living.
The complete Top 20 cheapest cities for expatriates to live in,
keeping in mind their respective relationships with the dollar and
conditions compared to NYC, are as follows:

20. Islamabad, Pakistan
19. Gaborone, Botswana
18. Tegucigalpa, Honduras
17. Johannesburg, South Africa

16. Yerevan, Armenia
15. Kolkata, India
14. Tirana, Albania
13. La Paz, Bolivia
12. Belgrade, Serbia
11. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovinia
10. Tbilisi, Georgia
9. Managua, Nicaragua
8. Cape Town, South Africa

7. Minsk, Belarus
6. Banjul, Gambia
5. Skopje, Macedonia
4. Tunis, Tunisia
3. Karachi, Pakistan
2. Windhoek, Namibia
1. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan


The most expensive cities in the world, according to Mercer's survey, are:

1. Luanda, Angola
2. Hong Kong, China
3. Zurich, Switzerland
4. Singapore, Singapore
5. Geneva, Switzerland
6. Shanghai, China
7. Beijing, China
8. Seoul, South Korea
9. Bern, Switzerland
10. N`Djamena, Chad


The costliest city for the third consecutive year, surprisingly, is
Luanda, the capital of Angola. Despite being recognized as a
relatively inexpensive city, the cost of imported goods and safe
living conditions in this country are available at a steep price,
hence the hostile working and living environment for expatriates
coming into Luanda.

The Mercer survey is designed to help multinational companies and
governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate
employees.