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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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Three U.S. cities are among the world's most expensive this year, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide Cost of Living Index.
The EIU's report, released on Thursday, put New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco among the top ten most expensive cities in the world.
Singapore and Switzerland's Zurich tied for the top spot on the list, while New York slipped to joint third-place with another Swiss city, Geneva, after tying with Singapore for first place last year.
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Hong Kong was in fifth place, Los Angeles came in sixth, Paris in seventh, and Tel Aviv and Copenhagen in joint-eighth. San Francisco, the third U.S. city in the top ten, was is in tenth place.
The report cautioned that the global cost-of-living crisis is not yet over.
This year's survey, conducted between August 14 and September 11, found that on average, prices have risen by 7.4 percent year-over-year in local currency terms for 200 products and services in 173 cities.
While that is a drop from the record 8.1 percent increase last year, it is "significantly higher than the trend in 2017 to 2021," the report said.
Out of the ten categories in the price index, utility prices rose the most slowly over the last year, "reflecting the waning impact" of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to the report. Groceries, on the other hand, showed the fastest pace of growth.
While three U.S. cities made the top ten—with New York seeing prices rise by 1.9 percent on average—the report said North American cities overall have slipped down the rankings compared with last year, with the region now reporting the lowest inflation in the survey.
Several foreign currencies have appreciated against the U.S. dollar in 2023—another factor that has led to a majority of the 22 U.S. cities in the survey dropping down the list, the report said.
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U.S. cities rank higher for utilities, domestic help and tobacco, the report said, while western European cities were among the most expensive for recreation, transport, household goods and personal care. Asian cities are some of the most expensive for groceries and alcohol.
"We expect inflation to continue to decelerate in 2024, as the lagged impact of interest-rate rises starts affecting economic activity, and in turn, consumer demand," Upasana Dutt, head of Worldwide Cost of Living at EIU, said in a statement.
But she noted that the risks from war and extreme weather remain.
"Upside risks remain—further escalations of the Israel-Hamas war would drive up energy prices, while a greater than expected impact from El Niño would push up food prices even further," she said.
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