Bandar Seri Begawan is now ranked 176th in the 2024 global cost-of-living ranking data by Mercer, retaining its position as one of the least expensive cities to live in for expatriates.
Hong Kong (1st), Singapore (2nd) and Zurich (3rd) are currently the costliest cities for international workers globally. These three cities have kept the same positions in Mercer’s rankings that they had last year. At the other end of the spectrum, the cities that ranked the lowest for living costs are Islamabad, Lagos and Abuja.
Other cities ranked in Southeast Asia include Phnom Penh (123), Bangkok (129), Manila (131), Jakarta (157), Hanoi (172), Kuala Lumpur (200) and Johor Bahru (214).
The rankings compared the costs of some 200 items – including housing and transportation to food, clothing, household goods and entertainment – across 226 cities across five continents.
“To ensure consistency in city-ranking comparisons, New York City was utilised as the base city and currency movements were measured against the US dollar,” said Mercer, a United-States based consultancy firm.
According to their data, the Sultanate’s capital is ranked 176th this year, four spots lower than the year before.
Mercer highlighted that a number of key factors influencing the world’s economy in recent years continue to have an impact on the cost of living in major cities.
“Inflation and exchange-rate fluctuations are directly affecting the pay and savings of internationally mobile employees (or those executing an international assignment).
Heightened economic and geopolitical volatility, as well as local conflicts and emergencies, have led to additional expenses in areas such as housing, utilities, local taxes and education,” said the company.
“In the case of the higher-ranking cities (Hong Kong, Singapore and Zurich), factors such as expensive housing markets, high transportation costs and higher cost of goods and services have all contributed to high living costs,” it said.
“Conversely, in Islamabad, Lagos and Abuja the demonstrably lower costs of living of international assignees have, in part, been driven by currency depreciations.” – Azlan Othman
