Strengthening currencies made Tokyo reclaim the title of Asia's most expensive city for expatriates while Beijing has become more costly than Hong Kong for the first time, a survey showed Thursday.
"Recent exchange rate fluctuations resulting from this year's economic crisis are having a major impact on the cost of living for expatriates," said ECA International, a human resources firm.
Tokyo is ranked number one in Asia and second most expensive in the world after Luanda, the Angolan capital, ECA said.
The capital of the oil-rich southern African nation ranked highest because some of the key consumer items favoured by expatriates that are monitored in the survey's calculations can be very expensive there.
Last year, Tokyo was Asia's second most expensive city, behind Seoul, but dropped out of the top 10 most expensive cities globally for the first time that year because of the weaker yen.
"While inflation has tripled since last year, increases in cost of living over the last two months for foreigners coming to Japan have been primarily a result of exchange rate movements," ECA said.