Ashgabat, wrecked by inflation, shoves aside Hong Kong as world’s costliest expatriate city

Name: Hong Kong loses crown to Turkmenistan’s Ashgabat as world’s most expensive city
Uploaded: 2021-06-22T10:16:33.000Z
Duration: 1 min 54 s
Description: Hong Kong loses crown to Turkmenistan’s Ashgabat as world’s most expensive city

The capital of Turkmenistan, where inflation accelerated by 13.3 per cent in 2018, unseated Hong Kong from its three-year perch as world’s costliest city

Hong Kong fell to second spot while the Lebanese capital Beirut jumped 42 spots to third place, according to Mercer’s 2021 cost of living survey

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An aerial view of the Dutar monument (front) symbolising inspiration in Turkmen art and Turkmen State Institute of Culture (back) in Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan. Photo: TASS

Cheryl Arcibal

Published: 6:16pm, 22 Jun 2021Updated: 9:59pm, 23 Jun 2021

Ashgabat, the Turkmen capital with the world’s largest concentration of white marble-finished buildings, has unseated Hong Kong from its three-year perch as the most expensive urban centre on earth for expatriates, according to Mercer’s 2021 cost of living survey.

The central Asian capital, where inflation slowed to 7.6 per cent last year from 13.3 per cent in 2018, surpassed Hong Kong in the top spot “primarily due to a continuing socio-economic crisis which has led to food shortages and hyperinflation,” said Mercer Asia-Pacific’s global mobility leader Julia Radchenko.

Hong Kong, which topped the ranking for three consecutive years due to the city’s costly property prices, slipped to second place. The Lebanese capital Beirut jumped 42 spots to third place.

Mercer’s annual report ranks 209 cities worldwide based on the comparative cost of expenses including housing, transport, food and entertainment, with New York City used as a baseline comparison.

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Hong Kong loses crown to Turkmenistan’s Ashgabat as world’s most expensive city

Hong Kong’s slight decline reflects how two years of economic turmoil, brought by the 2019 street protests and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, have wreaked havoc on the city. The city of 7.5 million people slipped into recession in the third quarter last year, its worst economic contraction on record, as tourists and business travellers – lifeblood of the services-dependent city – stayed away during the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Home rent could be one of the reasons for the fall in Hong Kong’s ranking,” said Alva To, vice-president Greater China, head of consulting, Cushman & Wakefield, who pointed out that the rent for luxury homes in the expatriate enclave of Kowloon Station has dropped by 15 per cent. “Expenses for food and drink have also become more affordable as more people preferred takeaways instead of dining out during the pandemic.”