Hong Kong continues to be the most expensive city in the world, but buying this kind of food still beats Paris

Financial News

Written by: Zhang Weilun

2020-11-18 15:47

Last update date: 2020-11-18 15:51

The high cost of living in Hong Kong is basically a global consensus.

This is not an exaggeration. According to the Global Cost of Living Index ranking published by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Hong Kong is definitely in the forefront.

Hong Kong ranked first this year, with Paris, France and Zurich, Switzerland tied for the top spot with Hong Kong.

The survey uses New York as the benchmark city, and the benchmark is 100.

As of September this year, the three cities index of Hong Kong, Paris and Zurich are all 103. As for Singapore and Osaka, which ranked first with Hong Kong last year, their rankings fell to fourth and fifth respectively.

Tel Aviv, Israel, ranked second last year, fell to fifth.

Although Hong Kong and Paris are tied for first place in the rankings, in terms of individual product prices, Hong Kong is still cheaper than Paris.

The report pointed out that in terms of U.S. dollars, buying a kilogram of noodles in Paris costs 6.1 U.S. dollars; Hong Kong only needs 3.82 U.S. dollars, which means that the price of noodles in Hong Kong is 37.4% flat.

Factors such as exchange rates affect the cost of living

Research shows that as of September this year, the prices of 138 kinds of goods and services in the surveyed cities have only increased by an average of 0.3% in the past year.

The cost of living in cities in the Americas, Africa, and Eastern Europe has fallen since last year, while the cost of living in Western European cities has become increasingly expensive, reflecting the impact of the rise of European currencies relative to the US dollar.

The report also pointed out that the main reasons for the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic on the cost of living are related to exchange rates, supply chains, government policies, reductions in residents' disposable income, and changes in living patterns.

Hong Kong economic inflation