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Metropolis of Zurich: High inflation makes European cities significantly more expensive
Photo: cavanimages / Pond5 Images / IMAGO
According to a new analysis, the most expensive cities in the world are Zurich and Singapore. The Swiss financial metropolis landed in first place in the current ranking of the British magazine »The Economist« mainly because of high inflation – just like the three other European cities in the top ten, Geneva, Paris and Copenhagen.
Zurich has thus risen five places in the ranking within one year. On the other hand, it is no surprise that Zurich shares first place with Singapore: in nine out of eleven survey years, Singapore came in first place in the survey.
The Economist took a close look at a total of 173 cities. The cost of living there rose by an average of 7.4 percent this year.
The magazine takes into account the prices of 200 products and services for its listing. In Europe, for example, the prices of food and clothing rose sharply, in addition to the poor euro exchange rate against the dollar.
In 2022, New York – along with Singapore – had been the most expensive city in the world. They, as well as other U.S. cities, have now slipped down the ranking. New York came in third with Geneva, Los Angeles in sixth, San Francisco in tenth.
The list of the most expensive cities this year also included Hong Kong in fifth place and Tel Aviv in eighth place, along with Copenhagen.
The cheapest city on the list is Damascus, just ahead of Tehran. The biggest downgrade was due to the weak ruble for Russian cities – Moscow landed in 142nd place, Saint Petersburg in 147th place.
Chinese cities also became cheaper: Beijing was one of four Chinese cities among the ten biggest droppers in the ranking. The »Economist« sees the devaluation of the Chinese currency, the renminbi, on the one hand, and the faltering recovery from the economic consequences of the corona pandemic on the other.
kko/AFP