Wednesday, March 23 2005 19:32 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Singapore: Mumbai and New Delhi are among the world's cheapest cities while Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe in Japan have preserved their status as the most expensive, a global cost of living survey showed today (Mar 23, 2005).

At the bottom of the list, New Delhi and Karachi were jointly ranked 120th with just 45 on the index, Mumbai was ranked 122nd on 44 and Manila was 123rd on 38, just above the cheapest city, Teheran at 32, according to the bi-annual Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey of more than 130 cities.

London saw the biggest rise in cost of living over the past year while the falling US Dollar made American cities cheaper.

New York, assigned an index reading of 100 and ranked the 23rd most expensive city in the world, down from 13th a year ago, served as the basis of comparison.

Tokyo stood at a whopping 141 and the Osaka-Kobe zones was 136. London, in seventh place, was on 121.

Other Asia-Pacific cities in the top 25 were Hong Kong at 12th place, down from seventh a year ago, followed by Singapore at 19th, down from 17th. Seoul was in 25th place, down from 19th, along with Sydney, up from 27th.

A basket of goods and services was used to calculate individual indices, with currency strength playing a key role because local prices are converted into US Dollars.

"The position of Tokyo and Osaka as the world's most expensive cities disguises a much more varied picture in the Asian region," the EIU said in a press statement.