"The most expensive city in the world": The Chinese here say that their income cannot keep up with prices

"The most expensive city in the world": Chinese claim that income cannot keep up with prices, and the impact of inflation will continue next year

　　Since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, a series of factors have pushed up global inflation.

Due to tight supply chains and changes in consumer demand, the cost of living in many large cities around the world has risen sharply.

　　With the cost of living for the feet, where the most expensive city in the world?

Not Paris, not Zurich, Singapore is no longer, but Tel Aviv, Israel.

　　The latest survey by the British Economist Intelligence Unit shows that Tel Aviv defeated Paris, which ranked first last year, and ranked first in the global cost of living rankings.

　　According to the analysis of the Economist Intelligence Unit, the cost of living in Tel Aviv currently ranks first in the world. The reason is that the price of daily necessities and transportation costs have risen, and the exchange rate of the Israeli currency, the new shekel, against the US dollar has risen.

　　Ms. Qian, a Chinese who has been working in Tel Aviv for a long time, told CBN reporters that this year she has truly felt that prices are rising rapidly, especially in terms of food and transportation.

What makes her and her friends even more headache is that although income is indeed growing, it is far from keeping up with the rate of inflation.

Tel Aviv has a long history of high prices

　　The Economist Intelligence Unit conducted a survey of 173 cities around the world in March and September this year, compared the prices of more than 200 daily necessities and services, and released the latest global cost of living index rankings accordingly.

　　In the survey last year, Paris, Zurich and Hong Kong were tied for first place.

In the new 2021 rankings, Paris and Singapore tied for second place, and the championship gave way to Tel Aviv.

　　Ms. Qian told CBN reporters, "The experience of recent price increases is obvious, and it is manifested in various aspects such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation."

She takes a taxi to work every day, a distance of 10 kilometers. It used to be 60 to 70 Israeli new shekels (approximately 121 to 141 yuan). Now 70-80 new shekels is the norm; if you encounter a traffic jam, 100 New shekels are also common.

　　In terms of food, when she cooks herself and goes to the supermarket to purchase, she finds that the price of vegetables has risen significantly; while going out to eat in ordinary restaurants, the previous budget of 100 to 150 NIS per capita has long been unable to hold it, and now it is easy to exceed The per capita NIS 200 (approximately 404 yuan) has almost risen by more than 30%, "and the weight is secretly decreasing."

　　Rome was not built in a day, and Tel Aviv’s high prices were not pushed up in a short period of time.

In 2020, Tel Aviv's prices rank fifth in the world.

　　A reporter from China Business News went to study in Israel in 2010. Although I had heard about the high prices in Tel Aviv before I left, I was a little surprised when I walked into the convenience store next to the dormitory for the first time. Paper is equivalent to 35 yuan, almost 6 times the price of China at that time.

　　After the semester, when chatting with international students, the reporter found that the troubles about prices are not limited to students from developing countries. Even students from developed countries such as Germany and the United States are also troubled by high prices.

They can only reduce the frequency of eating out, roll up their sleeves and learn how to cook in the dormitory.

　　In fact, it is not only foreigners who do not like Israel’s high prices, but even Israelis can hardly bear it.

In the summer of 2011, the largest protest in history broke out in Israel, with more than 400,000 people participating. The theme of the protest was not traditional security issues, but prices.

　　People are angry with the rising prices of housing, food, education, and health care. They believe that the government pays too much attention to safety issues while ignoring equally important economic sectors.

　　However, 10 years have passed. Although the Israeli government has continuously introduced measures to stabilize the basic people's livelihood, the above-mentioned problems have not been effectively solved because many basic factors driving up prices are difficult to change in the short term.

　　In 2020, the per capita GDP of Israel is about 44,000 U.S. dollars, which has exceeded the per capita levels of Japan, the United Kingdom and France.

Israel is the only developed country in the Middle East, and Tel Aviv is the economic center of the country, with more than 400,000 residents living in this city.

If calculated in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, its total population is as much as 4 million, and 45% of the country's population is gathered here.

　　The Tel Aviv metropolitan area is the most densely populated area in the country and has become the most modern metropolitan area in the Middle East.

Its blue sea and blue sky, golden beaches, Bauhaus-style buildings, open and inclusive atmosphere, especially the steady stream of employment and high-paying opportunities, still attract young Israelis to the Mediterranean city.

　　Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai told the Israeli media that young people are still willing to move in in the face of high prices. The fundamental reason is that as a small geographical country, Israel has no alternative metropolis.

　　The old mayor, who has been in office for more than 20 years, said: "In the United States, there are New York, Chicago, Miami, etc.. In the United Kingdom, there are Greater London, Manchester and Liverpool. There, if the cost of living is too high, you can move to another one. Cities. The cost of living in Tel Aviv will become higher and higher, just like the trend in the entire country."

　　Israel is a small country with shortage of resources and narrow land. Many materials need to be imported from abroad, such as oil, coal and ore.

Since the beginning of this year, global energy and raw material prices have soared. Israel, which is highly dependent on imports, has naturally increased prices.

　　As we all know, Israel has poor relations with neighboring countries, and the volume of land trade is extremely limited. It is like an island that needs to solve the problem of shortage of materials through air and shipping, which further pushes up prices.

　　In this survey, Damascus, the Syrian capital, only 200 kilometers away from Tel Aviv, was rated as the city with the lowest cost of living in the world.

Had it not been for the hostile relationship between the two sides for many years, there might be many business opportunities between them, and exchange of what is needed, mutual benefit and reciprocity.

New changes after the epidemic

　　In fact, in the special year of the epidemic in 2021, Tel Aviv's price rise is not unrelated to Israel's success in fighting the epidemic.

　　In December 2020, Israel became the first country in the world to universally vaccinate the people with the new crown vaccine.

By May of this year, this anti-epidemic result was once quite remarkable, and there were even "zero diagnoses" on some days.

　　With the outbreak of the fourth wave of the epidemic, so that Israel's "vaccine Legend" no longer.

However, Israel immediately overweight, was the first in the world for people to inoculate the third dose.

Today booster vaccination rate has exceeded 44.5%, again reversing the trend of the epidemic.

　　Due to the relatively high rate of vaccination in Israel and the rapid economic recovery, coupled with the fact that many investors are optimistic about Israel's high-tech industries, a large amount of foreign capital has poured in.

At the same time, the government's fiscal deficit has continued to decrease.

The Israeli Ministry of Finance recently predicted that Israel’s economic growth rate will reach 7.1% this year and 4.7% next year.

　　The Israeli new shekel has thus become one of the strongest currencies in the world. It has appreciated 4% against the U.S. dollar this year, reaching its highest level in 26 years.

This makes Tel Aviv's prices appear to be more expensive if calculated in U.S. dollars.

　　Excluding Tel Aviv, Paris and Singapore, which are tied for second place, the other top ten cities in the global cost of living are: Zurich, Switzerland, Hong Kong, New York, Geneva, Switzerland, Copenhagen, Denmark, Los Angeles, and Osaka, Japan.

　　In addition, Tehran, the capital of Iran, has risen the fastest, from 79th to 29th last year. The reason is that US sanctions have caused shortages of local supplies and high prices.

　　The Economist Intelligence Unit pointed out that the price increase of goods and services in all global cities tracked this year is the highest in five years, reaching 3.5% in local currency, which is significantly higher than the level before the new crown epidemic.

　　Looking ahead to the coming year, the report predicts that the cost of living in many cities will continue to increase, and inflation expectations may also push up wages and further push up prices.

However, as central banks of various countries, including the Federal Reserve, raise interest rates cautiously to curb inflation, price increases are expected to slow down from this year's level. The global consumer price index (CPI) will fall from an average of 5.1% this year to 4.3% in 2022. But it is still much higher than the level in recent years.

　　The Economist Intelligence Unit predicts that if disruptions in the supply chain are reduced and the blockade is eased, inflation will improve by the end of next year, and the cost of living in most major cities will also stabilize.

　　Author: Qian Xiaoyan