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ECA International: The most expensive cities for expats
Bucharest went down two positions to 74th in the 2011 edition of the most expensive European cities for expats, which includes 78 states. At world level it went up three positions to 180th, according to the British recruiting firm ECA International, Mediafax writes.Central and East European cities more expensive than Bucharest are Zagreb (50), Prague (63). Sofia (66), Budapest (69), Warsaw (70) and Belgrade (73).
In Europe, the Norwegian capital Oslo is the city with the highest costs for expats and it ranks second in the world for that respect, followed by Stavanger of Norway (4th in the world) and the Swiss city of Zurich (6th in the world).In the European cities analysed, the increase of costs is best seen in Switzerland. Despite low inflation, Zurich went up to 6th place from 10th in the world classification, as a result of the string appreciation of the Swiss franc.
Cities with the strongest cost drawback are in Turkey and Germany. Thus Istanbul went down to 60th from 78th while Munich went up from 35th to 60th in the general classification.
Between 2010 and 2011, Paris went down from 16th to 20th in the world top as a result of the depreciation of euro.“Economic difficulties experienced by certain European countries have impact on euro,” said Frederic Franchi, director of ECA International.
Franchi explained that a direct consequence of the depreciation of euro is that many European cities went down in the world classification. This tendency has appeared recently, and companies take into account the price differences in establishing bonus given to expats.
This fact allows Europeans to leave and work in Asia or Australia and preserve their living standard and purchase power. Chisinau ranks 78th, last in Europe.The most expensive city in the world is Tokyo, according to the ECA classification which evaluated 400 world cities. Two other cities in Japan, Nagoya (3) and Yokohama (5) are among the most expensive, while Oslo is second and Stavenger, Norway is fourth.ECA International, an organization with operations in 35 states is specialized in managing international labor force mobility.