(Business in Cameroon) - Per the 2016 hit list of most expensive cities worldwide for expatriates, published this past 14 December by the specialised firm ECA International, Yaoundé is among the 10 most expensive African cities. The political capital of Cameroon gets the 9^th spot in the African top 10, just ahead of Ndjamena, the Chadian capital.

This year, Luanda, the Angolan capital, is the 2^nd most expensive city worldwide and the most expensive in Africa for expatriates. Kinshasa (DRC), Khartoum (Sudan), Libreville (Gabon), Pointe Noire (Congo), Brazzaville (Congo), Conakry (Guinea) and Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) complete the African top 10 list in this annual ranking by ECA International.

At the global level, Tokyo (Japan) is the most expensive city for expatriates, ahead of Luanda, Zurich (Switzerland), Geneva (Switzerland), Yokohama (Japan), Basel (Switzerland), Nagoya (Japan), Bern (Switzerland), Osaka (Japan) and Kinshasa.

The calculations of the cost of living index made by the firm ECA are based on a typical shopping basket, including items such as food, household products, leisure services, clothes, restaurants prices as well as alcohol and tobacco. The calculations were made in American dollars. Rent, public services, car purchases and school fees are not included.

This ranking is especially totally different from the one recently published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) of Cameroon, in which the most expensive town in the country during the first half of 2016 was rather Buea, the capital of the South-West region.

BRM