The Economist: Global cost of living in Dhaka on par with Montreal

Would you believe that the cost of living in Dhaka is as high as that in Canadian city of Montreal—although the living amenities and conditions in these two cities are world apart?

The Intelligence Unit of British magazine the Economist in its latest study on the global cost of living in 2015 ranked Dhaka city at number 71 along with Montreal. Cities like Mexico city, Cleaveland, or Istanbul turned out to be cheaper than Dhaka in this study.

Canada’s biggest city Toronto is ranked 88— which is way cheaper than Dhaka.

The Economist studied 133 cities of the world, analyzed the strength of the dollar and mainly the cost of living for expats and business travellers.

Zambia’s capital Lusaka seems to offer the best value for money in the world. Despite rampant inflation, a devaluation of its currency Kwacha caused by falling copper prices has pushed the city’s cost of living down to just 41% of New York.

Singapore ranks as the costliest city of the world.

The top ten cheapest cities include four Indian cities. Bangalore and Mumbai are second and third cheapest cities of the world. The other two are Chennai and New Delhi. Even Pakistan’s Karachi city is the world’s seventh cheapest city.

The New York city now features among the world’s ten most expensive cities for the first time in 14 years. London has climbed six places to join four other European cities in the top ten.

Falling commodity prices and exchange-rate revisions has caused Olympic Games host Rio de Janeiro to drop 52 places down the ranking, while visitors to Euro 2016 matches in Paris and Lyon will see a mild improvement in prices because of a weaker euro. In Russia, scheduled host of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, that has seen the biggest decrease over the last year, with St Petersburg and Moscow tumbling 51 and 63 places down the ranking respectively, reflecting a 40% decline in living costs over the previous year.