STREET WISE
Whooping it up in Moscow
It surprised people in the newsroom when they learned that Moscow has become the world's most expensive city, usurping this dubious honour from Tokyo which has held it for the past four years.
"How can a city like Moscow that only emerged a few years ago to attract businessmen and tourists become the world's most expensive?" they asked. But it did, according to Mercer Consulting's 2006 survey, which was released late last month. The survey, covering 144 cities worldwide, shows that Seoul moved up from fifth to second place. Tokyo is in third place, losing its previous title due to currency fluctuations between the Japanese yen and the US dollar. Hong Kong is fourth. Chinese cities have also moved up slightly in the rankings as the value of the yuan is now pegged to a number of currencies rather than just the US dollar. Beijing is ranked 14th, Shanghai 20th. The survey uses New York City, ranked tenth, as its cost base - scoring it at 100. Then it compares the prices of more than 200 items - including housing, household goods, food, entertainment and transportation - in cities around the globe. And like people elsewhere, my colleagues promptly asked where Bangkok scored in the survey. Last year, our capital ranked 125th and this year it's 127th. This is good news for people who live in Bangkok. Just as we are complaining about high prices for accommodations and other costs we have to pay to support life in the big city, we should be glad that we'd need to pay an awful lot more if we were to live or travel somewhere else - most places, in fact. It's certainly not good for Thai companies that plan to set up offices in these pricey cities. In Moscow, though vodka is cheap, an apartment will run you US$3,000 (Bt114,436), a cup of coffee $5.27, a newspaper $3.40, and a burger with fries $3.87. Restaurants usually cater to well-heeled locals and tourists, while ordinary Russians are kept out at the door. Here, with Bt500 in our pockets, we can still afford a nice Vietnamese dinner with a friend, while a burger with fries costs less than $2. With our low cost of living, Thais are struck by how expensive other cities are, even many Eastern European capitals like Budapest and Prague. The best destination for Thais looking for low cost travel is Paraguay's Asuncion, which boasts the lowest cost of living. It's too bad that Paraguay is not on the list of favourite countries for Thai travellers or executives.
achara_d@nationgroup.com
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