Japan the most expensive nation

Press, 24 December 1986, Page 23

Japan the most expensive nation

NZPA-Reuter London The Japanese may have got rich by making cars, cameras, and computers more cheaply than other countries, but Japan is the most expensive country in the world to live in. A survey by Employment Conditions Abroad, an advisory service for firms who employ expatriates, said the strength of the Japanese yen had helped to hoist Japan to the top of the cost-of-living league. Being a wealthy nation is not a necessary criterion for expensive living. Firms looking to keep their expenses down would do best to avoid Nigeria, Algeria, Iraq, and Tanzania, which occupy the next four slots in the high-living stakes. The figures, which are designed to assist international companies in es-

timating allowances for employees posted abroad, show that living costs have risen in the United States, which now ranks thirty-ninth compared with sixty-fifth in 1980. Britain is now one of the least expensive countries to live in. The fall in the value of sterling during the last six years has made Britain slip to sixtieth place from fortyseventh. The biggest jump in expenses was recorded in Argentina, where the cost of living rose 324,130 per cent between 1980 and 1986. This has been offset, however, by a fall in the value of the Argentine peso, and the country, once one of the most costly places to set up home, now ranks fortyfourth.