The Angolan capital Luanda has overtaken Tokyo to become the world’s most expensive city for expatriates in a survey of 214 cities by Mercer, which cited security for pushing up costs.
“Despite being one of Africa’s major oil producers, Angola is a relatively poor country yet expensive for expatriates since imported goods can be costly,” Barb Marder, a senior partner at Mercer, said in a statement with the company’s annual Worldwide Cost of Living Survey.
In addition, finding secure living accommodations that meet the standards of expatriates can be challenging and quite costly, something that is well known to Brits who work on- and offshore Angola.
Tokyo, last year’s No. 1, slipped to third place, with Moscow moving into second spot, Mercer said. They were followed by Ndjamena in Chad, Singapore and Hong Kong. Switzerland took the next three places with Geneva, Zurich and Bern, while Sydney was in 10th place.
None are regarded as oil and gas capitals, with the exception of Singapore which is a major focal point for the offshore supply chain, including major rig builders Keppel FELS and Jurong.
Monthly rent for a “luxury two-bedroom unfurnished apartment” in Luanda is $6,500, while in Moscow it’s $4,600. In Zurich, a cinema ticket costs $20.66 while a cup of coffee is $5.98. The comparable items in Singapore are $9.28 and $4.84. A coffee in Moscow is $8.29.
Energy contacted Mercer to discover whether any top-10 major oil and gas centres such as Baku, Calgary, Dubai, Houston, Aberdeen and Stavanger figured in the listing.
However, we were told that such information could not be disclosed “for business reasons”. It was suggested to Mercer that it might benefit the company if it was to disclose the oil and gas top-10 as that might encourage greater interest in the 2013 survey results.
We were declined.