KUALA LUMPUR: KUALA Lumpur has risen in terms of affordability for expatriates, according to ECA International’s cost of living survey.
The company said its latest survey saw Kuala Lumpur dropping out of the top 50 most expensive locations for expatriates in the Asia Pacific.
“Kuala Lumpur has fallen out of the regional top 50 most expensive locations for expatriates, and is now ranked 212th globally, down by 15 places since last year,” said ECA International in a statement yesterday.
The continued weakness of the ringgit was responsible for Kuala Lumpur’s decline in the rankings, as well as Johor Baru’s status as the region’s second-cheapest city in terms of cost of living for international assignees, said ECA International regional director for Asia, Lee Quane.
“Cities in Malaysia continue to rank among those with the lowest cost of living in the world for
international assignees, and
have even become marginally cheaper over the past five years,” he said.
The United Kingdom-based ECA International, which is engaged in providing data on cost of living, salary, accommodation, tax, labour law, benefits and quality of life for international assignees, carries out cost of living surveys in March and September each year.
Hong Kong is now Asia Pacific’s most expensive location for expatriates, its highest regional and global position since ECA International rankings began.
ECA International said these cost of living surveys were used by human resource managers to calculate compensation packages for overseas postings.
As such, the findings also result in compensation adjustments being made by companies.