Singapore: Singapore is now the 24th most expensive location in the world for expatriates, falling from 18th place last year.
This was one of the findings of the latest Cost of Living survey published by ECA International, the world's leading provider of knowledge, information and software for the management and assignment of employees around the world.
To ensure that an employee’s spending power is maintained when they are sent on international assignment, a cost of living allowance is often provided as part of the pay package.
This allowance will be affected by differences in prices as well as exchange rate movements between that employee’s home and host countries.
“Prices have risen in Singapore since our last survey. Therefore, in local currency terms expatriates in Singapore will clearly have felt an increase in their cost of living in the past twelve months,” said Lee Quane, regional director, Asia, ECA International in a statement.
“However, as the Singapore dollar has depreciated against many currencies over the course of the last year, this has made the cost of living cheaper relative to several other locations than it was a year ago.
"While Singapore and Malaysian cities have fallen in our global rankings, the gap between Singapore’s cost of living and Kuala Lumpur’s has increased over the past 12 months - with Kuala Lumpur falling by 15 places to 212th position. Both George Town and Johor Bahru have fallen by 10 places in the global rankings to 245th and 250th respectively – out of the 262 ranked locations.
“The continued weakness of the Malaysian ringgit is responsible for Kuala Lumpur’s decline in the rankings, as well as Johor Bahru’s status as the location with the second-lowest cost of living in the region.
“Cities in Malaysia continue to rank amongst those with the lowest cost of living for international assignees in the world, and have even become marginally cheaper over the past five years,” added Quane.
ECA International has been conducting research into cost of living for over 45 years.
It carries out two main surveys per year to help companies calculate cost of living allowances so that their employees' spending power is not compromised while on international assignment.
The surveys compare a basket of like-for-like consumer goods and services commonly purchased by assignees in over 460 locations worldwide.
Certain living costs, such as accommodation rental, utilities, car purchases and school fees are usually covered by separate allowances. Data for these costs are collected separately and are not included in ECA’s cost of living basket.
