By Abdi Ali
Published June 25, 2017
The capital city of Angola, Luanda, is the most expensive place in the world to work and live in in 2017.
Mercer, a global consulting firm, ranks Luanda as the most expensive and Tunisia’s Tunis as the least expensive locations, respectively, for working abroad in terms of the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment.
Victoria on the Indian Ocean island of Seychelles not only follows Luanda as Africa’s second most expensive city but also ranks 14th most expensive city in the world. While Chad’s Ndjamena at position 16 and Congo-Kinshasa’s Kinshasa at position 18 come after Luanda and Victoria as Africa’s most expensive cities for expatriate workers, Tunisia’s Tunis, South Africa’s Cape Town, Malawi’s Blantyre and Namibia’s Windhoek rank among the 15 least expensive cities globally.
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Mercer’s 23rd annual Cost of Living Survey shows that factors like instability of housing markets and inflation for goods and services contribute to the overall cost of doing business in today’s global environment.
“Globalization of the marketplace is well documented with many companies operating in multiple locations around the world and promoting international assignments to enhance the experience of future managers,” says Ilya Bonic, Senior Partner and President of Mercer’s Career business. “There are numerous personal and organizational advantages for sending employees overseas, whether for long- or short-term assignments, including career development by obtaining global experience, the creation and transfer of skills, and the re-allocation of resources.”
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Touted as being one of the world’s most comprehensive surveys designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees, Mercer’s study uses United States of America’s New York City as the base city against which all cities are compared while currency movements are measured against the US dollar.
Mercer says its 23rd annual Cost of Living Survey is derived from a survey it conducted in March 2017.
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