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Bengaluru fifth cheapest city in the world: Report
As per The Economist Intelligence Unit's report, Bengaluru is the world's fifth cheapest city while Chennai and New Delhi are at eighth and tenth places, respectively
Bengaluru: Bengaluru is the world’s fifth cheapest city while Chennai and New Delhi, at eighth and tenth places, respectively, are among the top ten cheapest cities to live in, a new report said.
As per The Economist Intelligence Unit’s report “Worldwide cost of living 2018; Which global cities have the highest cost of living”, Bengaluru is one of cheapest in 133 global cities.
“Asia is home to some of the world’s most expensive cities—but to many of the world’s cheapest cities too. Within Asia, the best value for money has traditionally been offered by South Asian cities, particularly those in India and Pakistan,” according to the report.
The report surveys more than 400 individual prices across 160 products, which include food, drink, clothing, household, private school fees and even cost of domestic help and other services.
The report adds that Bangalore (now Bengaluru), Chennai, Karachi and New Delhi feature among the ten cheapest locations surveyed. “India is tipped for rapid economic expansion, but in perhead terms wage and spending growth will remain low. Income inequality means that low wages are the norm, limiting household spending and creating many tiers of pricing as well as strong competition from a range of retail sources,” the report said.
“This, combined with a cheap and plentiful supply of goods into cities from rural producers with short supply chains as well as government subsidies on some products, has kept prices down, especially by Western standards.”
War-torn city of Damascus in Syria was the first in the cheapest cities list followed by Caracas, the South American city in Venezuela.
The report adds that Damascus and Caracas are becoming cheaper because of the impact of political or economic disruption, while the Indian subcontinent remains structurally cheap. “Although the Indian subcontinent remains structurally cheap, instability is becoming an increasingly prominent factor in lowering the relative cost of living of a location. This means that there is a considerable element of risk in some of the world’s cheapest cities,” the report finds.
“Karachi, Algiers, Almaty and Lagos have faced well-documented economic, political, security and infrastructural challenges, and there is some correlation between The Economist Intelligence Unit’s cost of living ranking and its sister ranking, the liveability survey. Put simply, cheaper cities also tend to be less liveable,” it said.
On the most expensive city list, Singapore continued its reign at the top for the fifth consecutive year. Paris, Zurich, Hong Kong and Oslo joined the most expensive cities at the top.
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First Published:16 Mar 2018, 12:26 AM IST
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