Birmingham falls in table of ‘most expensive’ global cities

BIRMINGHAM has plunged 51 places in a league of the world’s most expensive cities to live and work.

London, Aberdeen and Glasgow have also fallen on the Mercer’s 2017 Cost of Living survey which looked at prices in 209 global cities. Birmingham is now the 147th most expensive city, while London is 30th after dropping 11 places.

The survey is used by multinational companies and Government to determine compensation or top-up payments to employees working overseas.

It measures costs in each location including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

The falls for UK cities came as a result of the pound weakening against the US dollar following the Brexit vote, the index said.

The euro also suffered against the US dollar which saw cities like Rome and Vienna also dropping down the list.

The costliest city in the index, driven by cost of goods and security, is Luanda in Angola, knocking Hong Kong, which was first last year, into second place in 2017.

Tokyo was placed third.