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Staff reporter
Seoul was ranked as the 14th most expensive city for expatriates to live in, according to a global consulting firm Wednesday.
Mercer's recent "Cost of Living Survey," which compared the costs of 200 items in 214 cities worldwide, found Luanda in Angola as the most expensive city, while Karachi in Pakistan was the cheapest.
Housing, transport, food, clothing and household necessities and entertainment were the critical factors for the rankings, Mercer said.
The results were based on a survey conducted in March 2010 factoring in the monthly average exchange rate for February.
Last year, Seoul was the 51st most expensive city thanks to a drop in the won's value against the dollar it ranked third and second in 2007 and 2006, respectively.
Mercer said the fall in the rankings was mainly because of the weakening greenback and strengthening Korean won.
"That's due to the won's gain against the dollar at that time. Meanwhile, the demand for good expatriate housing increased amid signs of an economic recovery," Nathalie Constantin-Metral, a senior researcher at Mercer responsible for compiling the rankings, said in a statement.
Among the top 10, three Asian cities were included. Tokyo was the second most expensive city as the yen remained strong against the dollar, while Osaka was the sixth most expensive. Hong Kong was eighth.
Moscow, Geneva and Zurich were placed fourth, fifth and eighth respectively, followed by Copenhagen ranked 10th.
"In the past couple of years, corporate assignments have become truly global, with expatriates and 'global assignees' being transferred all over the world. However, global mobility is still an expensive undertaking for companies, so selection of the right candidates and a real understanding of the costs involved in relocating staff to other countries are essential ― especially in today's economic environment," the researcher said.
외국인들에 서울 생활비 '14번째로 비싸'
한국에 거주하는 외국인들이 서울의 물가가 14번째로 비싸다고 한 컨설팅 회사가 보도했다.
머서는 세계 214개 도시에 있는 200여 개 품목의 물가를 비교 조사한 결과 앙골라의 루안다를 생활비가 제일 많이 드는 도시로 선정했으며, 파키스탄의 카라치는 제일 '싼' 도시로 뽑았다.
머서는 주택, 교통, 음식, 옷, 생활 필수품과 오락거리 등의 요인들을 고려해서 순위를 매겼다고 말했다.
이 조사 결과는 지난 2월의 평균 환율로 3월에 한 조사에 근거했다.
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