The Norwegian capital of Oslo on Wednesday found itself at the top of one league that it does not pay to win -- as the world's most expensive city.
A comparison of the prices of goods and services around the globe by Swiss financial-services group UBS found that Oslo has replaced the perennial high-cost city Tokyo as the league leader.
Using a basket of more than 100 common goods and services, but excluding rent and housing, the UBS researchers found that Oslo was ten percent more costly than Hong Kong, Tokyo or New York, and nearly 20 percent more expensive than its Scandinavian neighbor Copenhagen.
London was ranked seventh, with an index rating of 98.9 compared with Oslo's 117.8 and New York's 104.5.
Mumbai, the financial capital of India, sits at the bottom of the list of 70 cities with a rating of 28.7, just below Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, with 30.6.
"It is interesting that Buenos Aires now ranks so far down the league table, since the Argentinian capital was the most expensive city in South America three years ago, before the economic crisis and the decoupling of the peso from the US dollar," UBS said.
The high-octane performance of Oslo can be put down to the strong appreciation of Norway's currency, the krone, while Tokyo's fall from the top spot after many years as the world's costliest city is the result of Japan's weak economy and lower prices.
The good news for Norwegians is that their higher prices are both caused and mitigated by higher wages. The survey ranked Oslo fourth highest in earnings, behind Zurich, Copenhagen and Basel in Switzerland.
Mumbai again propped up the table, with workers earning only 3.1 percent of the wages paid in Zurich.
The survey has some valuable evidence about the effect of the euro. It found that the euro has caused prices of many goods and services to converge within the single currency zone, but UBS said there was "still a long way to go before prices are harmonized."
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number