Karachi, Islamabad among 'cheapest' cities in world for expats

General presumption of the British epoch Empress Market gathering is seen aft the removal of surrounding encroachments connected the bid of Supreme Court successful Karachi, January 30, 2019. — Reuters

Karachi and Islamabad were ranked arsenic 1 of the cheapest places successful the satellite for expatriates to unrecorded successful in 2023, a Cost of Living survey by planetary consultancy Mercer revealed.

Meanwhile, for residents of the cities successful Pakistan, ostentation has been steadily rising since the opening of the twelvemonth owed to the government's implementation of hard fiscal measures, which were required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to entree backing that is presently delayed.

Other cities that bash not interruption a overseas worker's slope see Cuba's Havana, Kyrgyzstan's Bishkek, Tajikistan's Dushanbe, Windhoek successful Namibia, Ankara successful Turkey, South Africa's Durban city, Tunis successful Tunisia and Uzbekistan's superior metropolis Tashkent.

The survey, conducted by Mercer, helps find the cost of packages for employees connected planetary assignments, which beryllium connected factors specified arsenic currency fluctuations, outgo ostentation for goods and services and accommodation expenses.

To find the cities' rankings, the advisor company's survey measured the comparative outgo of much than 200 components including housing, transport, utilities, food, home supplies and amusement successful much than 400 cities.

Most costly cities 

Meanwhile, Hong Kong, Singapore and Zurich person been ranked arsenic the 3 astir costly cities successful the world. Three different cities successful Switzerland are successful the apical 10 with Geneva, Basel and Bern ranked fourth, 5th and seventh, respectively.

New York City, ranked sixth globally, is the astir costly metropolis successful the United States, according to the survey. Tel Aviv successful Israel was ranked the eighth astir costly metropolis for planetary workers, making it the costliest successful the Middle East. Copenhagen and Nassau successful the Bahamas rounded disconnected the apical 10, ranking ninth and 10th, respectively.

“Due to the caller instauration of assertive nationalist monetary policies and the tightening of planetary fiscal conditions, galore economies are apt to spot slower income maturation this year, on with rising unemployment,” Mercer said.

“Debt levels among galore countries stay precocious and halfway ostentation has not yet peaked successful galore markets. Inflation and speech complaint fluctuations are straight impacting the wage and savings of employees who are internationally mobile," it added

African cities that ranked precocious successful the planetary outgo of surviving ranking were Bangui, Djibouti and Luanda successful Angola.

The escalation of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the emergence of much contagious COVID-19 variants, speech complaint fluctuations and wide ostentation each affected expatriate salaries and savings, the study found. Inflation globally is expected to driblet to 7% this year.

Middle East

It is expected to beryllium astatine 4.9% successful 2024, from a precocious of 8.7% successful 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund’s Regional Economic Outlook connected the Middle East and Central Asia.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development trimmed its outlook for header ostentation by 0.1% to 5.9% successful 2023, though it accrued its forecast for halfway inflation, which excludes volatile nutrient and vigor prices, to 4%. Inflation is expected to “moderate gradually” this year, and successful 2024 aft cardinal banks raised their rates to tame user prices that person soared since Russia invaded Ukraine, the Paris-based bureau said successful March.

Dubai was ranked the 18th astir costly metropolis for expatriates, up from 31st past year, portion Abu Dhabi climbed to 43rd from 61st during the reporting period. After Singapore, which saw rent increases averaging 50% depending connected the area, Dubai was the 2nd metropolis successful the survey wherever rental outgo had a important interaction connected the ranking, with rent increases averaging 25%, Mercer said.

By contrast, the interaction of the lodging question was notably little successful Abu Dhabi, wherever the alteration ranged betwixt 6% and 8% and successful immoderate areas remained the aforesaid arsenic past year, it added.

“Employers successful the UAE are taking enactment of these changes. Our probe indicates that organisations person provided an mean of 4.2% yearly merit summation successful 2023,” Vladimir Vrzhovski, fiscal services and exertion industries pb astatine Mercer Middle East, said.

“Many of them are reviewing their remuneration packages, with a increasing fig expanding bonuses alternatively of expanding basal salaries to boost the full compensation without semipermanent commitment.”

In the Middle East, the Saudi cities of Riyadh and Jeddah were ranked 85th and 101st. Manama successful Bahrain was ranked the 98th astir costly metropolis for overseas workers this year. They were intimately followed by Amman successful Jordan astatine 110, Doha successful Qatar (126), Muscat successful Oman (130) and Kuwait City (131).

Besides the Swiss cities and Copenhagen, the different astir costly cities successful Europe included London, Vienna, Amsterdam, Prague and Helsinki. Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu, arsenic good arsenic Asian cities similar Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo and Shenzhen, besides ranked successful the apical 20 astir costly cities, Mercer found.