Malaysia sees rise in cost of living survey

PETALING JAYA: A survey on the global cost of living for expatriate workers shows that Malaysian cities have gone up the rankings, with Kuala Lumpur rising 24 places to 188th position.

This makes it the highest placed Malaysian city in the index by ECA International, which carries out two main surveys each year comparing a basket of like-for-like consumer goods and services commonly purchased in over 450 locations around the world.

ECA International’s Asia director Lee Quane said all three surveyed locations in Malaysia had seen big rises of over 20 places each in the cost of living rankings.

However, he said Malaysia remained one of the cheapest locations in Asia for overseas workers.

“But Kuala Lumpur is now more expensive for foreign workers than many of the locations that ranked higher in the 2017 rankings, such as New Delhi, Manila and Mumbai,” he said in a statement today.

He added that all three surveyed locations remained outside the global top 150.

ECA International’s cost of living survey does not take into account goods and services such as accommodation rental, utilities, car purchases and school fees which it says are usually covered by separate employee allowances.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Singapore returned to the global top 20 most expensive locations for expats, ranked as the 18th most expensive city in the world for expatriate workers.

Within Asia, it was the ninth most expensive location, a position it has held since 2016.

Last year, it was the 21st most expensive city in the world, up from 16th in 2016.

Quane attributed this to the strong performance of the Singapore dollar this year, adding that the city-state had long been considered one of the most expensive cities for expats to live and work in.

“However, the cost of living is still below that of other Asian locations with large expatriate populations such as Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai,” he added.

Hong Kong was ranked the second most expensive location in Asia and sixth in the world, while the priciest location for expats globally was Ashgabat, the capital city of Turkmenistan.

Ashgabat rocketed from 146th place in 2017 to top spot this year amid a deepening economic crisis.

Europe, Swiss and Scandinavian cities continue to dominate the list for most expensive locations, with four Swiss cities and two Scandinavian cities featuring in the global top 10.

Geneva is the most expensive location in Europe and second most expensive in the world, closely followed by Zurich, Basel and Bern – resulting in four of the top five most expensive cities in the world being in Switzerland. - FMT

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