Tel Aviv ranked world’s most expensive city

Israel’s Tel Aviv has overtaken Paris as the world’s most expensive city to live in, according to a survey report conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Paris stands second jointly with Singapore. Last year, Paris, Zurich and Hong Kong shared joint 1st place. Zurich and Hong Kong were 4th and 5th this year, followed by New York, Geneva, Copenhagen, Los Angeles and Osaka.

War-torn Damascus, capital of Syria, retained its place as the world’s cheapest city to live in.

Rome of Italy has seen the biggest drop in the rankings, falling from 32nd to 48th place, with a particularly sharp decline in its shopping basket and clothing categories, finds the EIU.

As was the case in 2020, Tehran (Iran) climbed the most in the rankings, jumping from 79th to 29th. The re-imposition of US sanctions on Iran has led to continued shortages of goods and rising import prices.

The report says most US cities have fallen in the rankings compared with last year, after the government responded to the Covid-19 pandemic by injecting more money into the economy. This held down the value of the US dollar compared with European and Asian currencies. Unusually, the index value for the transport category is lower for US cities compared to the global average.

The EIU ranking has covered more than 200 goods and services in 173 major cities. This year 40 cities have been added for the first time. Of which, seven cities came in from the US and 11 in China.

The EIU said the data it collected in August and September showed that on average prices rose 3.5% in local currency terms - the fastest inflation rate recorded over the past five years, BBC reports.

Transport has seen the biggest price increases, with the cost of a litre of petrol up by 21% on average in the cities studied.