Resource-rich African countries climbed up the world rankings due to a commodities boom, a survey by ECA International showed, with Angola's Luanda and the Congo Democratic Republic's Kinshasa in second and fifth place respectively, while Scandinavian cities Oslo and Copenhagen remained among the top seven.

Harare was the 57th most expensive city for expatriates in the 2005 survey.

"Although the (Zimbabwean) currency has depreciated, there was a huge increase in the cost of living for Harare," Lee Quane, general manager of ECA International, told Reuters.

Seoul, which was the most expensive city in Asia, ranked as the eighth-most expensive worldwide, up from tenth place in the previous year.

Cities in Japan fell in the global rankings mainly because of a sharply weaker yen, with Tokyo dropping to tenth place this year from third place in 2005.

"Taiwan, Tokyo and Hong Kong have all fallen due to currency movements, even though the price of goods and services has actually increased," said Quane.

Consumer prices in Japan are expected to keep rising, but only slowly, following more than seven years of deflation.

However, costs in both Seoul and Singapore were higher due to stronger currencies.

The won has gained more than nine per cent since the end of 2005 against the US dollar while the Singapore dollar has risen nearly eight per cent.

Quane said Seoul, which took the top spot as Asia's most expensive city for expatriates for the second year in a row, had seen a double-impact from a stronger currency and higher costs of goods and services.

The gap between first-tier and second-tier Chinese cities is likely to narrow over the next few years, Quane said, as international companies move further inland in search of new markets.

Quane added that exchange rates, rather than inflationary factors, were among the main factors behind the movements in ECA's latest survey.

"High oil prices haven't really had a huge inflationary effect," he said.

The ECA International cost of living survey takes into account 125 economic factors such as the cost of luxury goods, restaurant meals and grocery costs for items commonly purchased by expatriates in over 250 locations worldwide.

It aims to capture day-to-day expenses for expatriates and does not include certain living costs such as accommodation, utilities and school fees which are often included as part of an expatriate's package.

Nampa-Reuters

Marketplace News Headlines Of The Last 48 Hours

•  Financial meltdown knocks global factories
•  Tensions brew over EU's vetting of state aid to banks
•  DBN assistance paves way for women
•  China urges developed states to take lead in climate change
•  Bridgestone puts on the brakes at US plant Japanese firm will cut jobs and stop making tyres
•  Price transparency for Nam's telecoms sector
•  Consumer debt affects health
•  The mantra of the big guns and the cries of the back streets
•  SA mining unions call for halt to new lay-offs
•  Polytechnic receives financial boost
•  Nam moves to get ban on exports to SA lifted
•  BEE firms in SA must bail themselves out, say black managers
•  Maputo remains optimistic about foreign aid flows
•  US$500m biofuels project wants Mozambican labour to produce ethanol
•  Union asks leaders not to back down on aid for decent work
•  House market will worsen in South Africa, says Absa
•  Fortescue shares surge on bid rumours by BHP and China
•   Chinese manufacturing drops sharply
•  Ryanair makes new takeover bid for Aer Lingus