Bucharest on 172 place in top expensive cities for expats

Newsroom 23/06/2016 | 11:08

Bucharest rose to the 172 position in 2016 from the 178 place in 2015, in top expensive cities for expats, according to the annual study made by the consultancy firm Mercer.

According to the study Cost of Living 2016, realized by Mercer, Hong Kong, Luanda, Angola’s capital (2), Zurich (3), Singapore (4) and Tokyo (5) are the richest cities for expats. The study has as comparison base New York and measures the evolutions of the currencies to the American dollar, which appreciated significantly in the last year.

“Despite the significant raise in prices in the region, more currencies from Europe depreciated to the American dollar, which made some cities drop very much in ranking,” said the Mercer analyst Nathalie Constantin-Métral.

One of the most dramatically drop was registered by Moscow, which fell on place 17 in top 67 richest cities for expats because of the ruble depreciation.

However, some cities from Central and Eastern European cities were up in ranking, such as Bucharest, Kiev which increased by 8 places to 176 position and Tirana, which gained 12 positions to 182 place.