HK drops to ninth in expensive city ranking
According to Mercer's 2011 Cost of Living survey, Hong Kong has dropped from the eighth spot and become the ninth most expensive city in the world for expatriates to live in.
The annual survey is widely considered to be one of the main authorities on global cost-of-living rates, covering 214 cities across five continents, with New York used as the base city for the index. Indexed items in the survey include the comparative cost of over 200 areas for each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
Connie Leung, Mercer's Hong Kong business leader for information product solutions, says that the drop was not as significant as it seemed, since the Hong Kong currency is pegged to the US dollar.
"As the exchange rate of Hong Kong dollar is linked to the US dollar