Lagos Ranks Fourth Africa’s Most Expensive City

A new report, on Wednesday, rated Lagos as the fourth costliest city in Africa, moving up 17 places from last year’s ranking by research firm, Mercer.

N’Djamena, Chad, had the highest ranking in Africa, followed by Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Libreville, Gabon in second and third places, respectively.

Mercer said the rating was influenced by a number of factors, including currency fluctuations, cost of inflation for goods and services, and volatility in accommodation prices.

According to the report, in comparison with other cities in the world, Lagos, Nigeria, continues to remain attractive for foreign investments despite being one of the most expensive in Africa.

“Having moved up 17 places from last year’s ranking, Nigeria’s commercial hub is one of Mercer’s top five costliest cities in Africa,” the report said.

The Principal Leader, Africa Mobility at Mercer, Yolanda Sedlmaier, said each African country had its own unique economy.

“This is why multinationals need not approach their expatriate packages for Africa with one single strategy. Let’s look at it this way, while a city like N’Djamena in Chad has been listed as the 11th most expensive city in the world, whereas Mali comes in at the 124th position in terms of cost of living,” Sedlmaier said.

Mercer’s 2019 Cost of Living Survey also found that eight out of the top 10 of the world’s most expensive cities for expatriates were Asian cities, resulting from high costs for expatriate consumer goods and a dynamic housing market.

It stated that Tokyo, Singapore, and Seoul were top on the list, while the costliest city in the world for the second consecutive year was Hong Kong.