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Japanese cities retain title as most expensive

Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe have kept their status as the world's most expensive cities to live in, while Manila and Bombay are among the cheapest, a global cost of living survey showed yesterday.

London saw the biggest rise in cost of living over the past year while the falling US dollar made American cities cheaper, according to the bi-annual Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey of more than 130 cities.

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.

Beijing and Taipei were tied for 44th place with an index reading of 87, while Shanghai was ranked 46th -- along with Miami, Florida -- on 86.

Tokyo's stood at a whopping 141 and the Osaka-Kobe zone's was 136. London, in seventh place, was on 121.

At the bottom of the list, New Delhi and Karachi were jointly ranked 120th with just 45 on the index, Bombay was ranked 122nd on 44 and Manila was 123rd on 38, just above the cheapest city, Tehran at 32.

A basket of goods and services was used to calculate the indices, with currency strength playing a key role because local prices are converted into US dollars.

"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," it added.
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