{{The Kenyan capital, Nairobi is now ranked Africa\u2019s second most expensive city after Nigeria\u2019s Lagos, putting to test its ability to attract foreign investment and tourists.}}<\/p>\n
This latest ranking is the opposite of last year\u2019s edition when Nairobi was listed as the second least expensive city in Africa after Egypt\u2019s Cairo.<\/p>\n
The new survey did not include Angola\u2019s capital Luanda, which has consistently ranked as Africa\u2019s most expensive city.<\/p>\n
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the UK firm that conducted the research, said the change in Nairobi\u2019s ranking is linked to the steep rise in the cost of six goods in a basket used to measure relative prices.<\/p>\n
The survey found that the Kenyan capital is particularly expensive for the middle and upper class residents who consume luxury goods and prefer private cars to public transport.<\/p>\n
The high cost of living in the Kenyan capital is mainly driven by the prices of consumer goods such as petrol, beers and wines. A litre of petrol costs an average of $1.3 in Nairobi, up from $1.24 last year \u2013 nearly five times the $0.35 price that consumers are charged in Cairo and Lagos\u2019 $0.61.<\/p>\n
Egypt and Nigeria offer heavy subsidies to consumers of petrol while Kenya did away with all subsidies in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n
The price differences are equally high in Nairobi\u2019s wines market where a 750 ml bottle costs an average of $12.23 compared to $10.09 in January last year.<\/p>\n
A similar quantity of wine costs an average of $7.81 in Johannesburg, Lagos ($11.48), Cairo ($7.06) and Pretoria ($8.21).<\/p>\n
Nairobi\u2019s consumers are however bearing a lighter burden in the foods compared to other African cities. EIU found that a kilogramme of bread costs $1.4 or nearly half the $2.47 price in Lagos.<\/p>\n
EIU says highly priced consumer goods have eroded the quality of life for millions of Nairobi residents than the previous year when the city ranked 174 in the quality of living index prepared by Mercer \u2013 an international human resource consultancy.<\/p>\n
EIU has placed Nairobi in the 177th position in the quality of living index.<\/p>\n
Austrian capital Vienna is the city with the highest quality of living, followed by Zurich, Auckland, Munich, and Vancouver, according to the EIU index.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s index shows that residents of Nairobi are enjoying a lower quality of living than those who live in the Ugandan capital Kampala which is ranked 162.<\/p>\n
NMG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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