KL rises in world’s most expensive location
Although the Malaysian cities in our survey have all seen significant rises of over twenty places each, Malaysia remains one of the cheapest locations in Asia for overseas workers. Lee Quane, ECA International’s regional director for Asia
KUCHING: Kuala Lumpur remains the highest placed Malaysian city as par of the findings of the latest Cost of Living survey published by ECA International, the world’s leading provider of knowledge, information and software for the management and assignment of employees around the world.
KL rose 24 places to 188th on the list. While Malaysian cities have seen big rises in the cost of living rankings, all three of the surveyed locations still sit outside of the global top 150.
“Although the Malaysian cities in our survey have all seen significant rises of over twenty places each, Malaysia remains one of the cheapest locations in Asia for overseas workers.
“However, 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,” said Lee Quane, ECA International’s regional director for Asia.
Meanwhile, Singapore has returned to the global top 20 most expensive locations for expats as the 18th most expensive city in the world for expatriate workers. Within Asia, Singapore is the 9th most expensive location.
In 2017, Singapore was the 21st most expensive city in the world for expatriates, up from 16th in 2016. Its 9th position within Asia remains unchanged since 2016. “The Singapore dollar has performed strongly this year, resulting in a slight rise in Singapore’s rankings, up 3 places to become the 18th most expensive location in the world,” said Quane.
“Singapore has long been considered one of the most expensive cities for expats to live and work in and this looks set to continue. However, the cost of living is still below that of other Asian locations with large expatriate populations such as Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Shanghai.”
ECA International has been conducting research into cost of living for more than 40 years. It carries out two main surveys per year to help companies calculate cost of living allowances so that their employees’ spending power is not compromised while on international assignment.
The surveys compare a basket of like-for-like consumer goods and services commonly purchased by assignees in over 450 locations worldwide. Certain living costs, such as accommodation rental, utilities, car purchases and school fees are usually covered by separate allowances. Data for these costs are collected separately and are not included in ECA’s cost of living basket.
Hong Kong is now the second most expensive location in Asia for expatriate workers to live in, and sixth most expensive in the world.
Quane said: “2018 was another strong year for the Hong Kong dollar, resulting in Hong Kong’s rise from ninth place last year to sixth, leapfrogging locations such as Tokyo and Oslo where the currencies have been slightly weaker.”
Thai cities were among the biggest risers in the rankings, with Bangkok rising 32 places and entering the top 100 most expensive locations for the first time. Quane said: “Over the past five years, Bangkok has climbed more than 80 places.
“The Thai capital now sits in 90th place in our cost of living rankings. The Thai baht has strengthened in recent years, as the economy has expanded and the political landscape has stabilised. This means that Thai locations are now significantly more expensive for expat workers than they have been in the past.”
In mainland China, all 14 of the Chinese cities surveyed by ECA remain in the global top 50, with Shanghai leading the way as the 14th most expensive location globally.
Quane said: “Developing Chinese cities such as Dalian, Chengdu and Nanjing are now firmly established in the global top 50 alongside Beijing and Shanghai, and it is likely that they will remain expensive destinations for mobile employees in the foreseeable future.”
Taipei, Taiwan’s most expensive city, and Macau also continued their rise in ECA’s rankings to 31 and 25 respectively - consolidating the upward trend in the cost of living in greater China relative to other locations globally.
The cost of living for overseas workers in Australia and New Zealand has plummeted since 2017, with every Australasian location included in the survey dropping at least 20 places. Sydney and Canberra both fell out of the top 50 and now sit in 70th and 85th respectively, whilst Adelaide’s ranking decreased the most, dropping from 64th most expensive location to 111th within a year.
Quane said: “Both the Australian and New Zealand dollar deteriorated over the past year and were outperformed by other regional and global currencies. However, this is good news for expatriates living in these two nations, as these locations have become much less expensive overall. Australia and New Zealand are now significantly cheaper than several Asian cities that they once topped in the cost of living rankings.”