Luanda why is it so expensive

This year the rapidly expanding city of Luanda, the capital of Angola, was once again named the most expensive city in the world for expatriates. Photographer Matteo de Mayda visited Luanda and found a deeply divided city — parts feel like Dubai, with others half-built and impoverished. Facebook Twitter. Most of the city and its millions of inhabitants are left in the dark. Around 5 million people jostle for space in the city, of whom three-quarters live in informal settlements with little or no documentation or land tenure.

Offshore stood several freighters under European flags But while Fernando Azvedo agrees the multinationals may have increased houses prices, he says at the same time it should be remembered that it was Angolan landlords who have been cashing in on the opportunity.

He added that while expats did sometimes splash out on restaurant meals or high-cost imported items in the supermarkets, he felt wealthy Angolans were the really big spenders. Wina Miranda, who like her husband is an environmental engineer but is not working while in Luanda, said she and other expatriates had learned to be resourceful to get around the costs.

She brings in a container of non-perishable food each time they go home and she has recently discovered a Chinese farm which sells low-cost good quality vegetables. Ed Corbett is a British business consultant living in Luanda. He speaks Portuguese and has no issue taking a local taxi or haggling for fruit from the street vendors, but accepts that this is not possible for all expatriates. Prices, he said, had come down "remarkably" in the past 18 months, not just property but in supermarkets as well, mostly due to increased competition.

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. So why is a city like Luanda so expensive? Infrastructure is in poor shape after more than 20 years of civil war. Falling property prices? James Wilde: "Luanda is definitely the most expensive place I've ever been". Hong Kong, China, 3. Tokyo, Japan 4. Zurich, Switzerland 5. Singapore, Singapore 6. Seoul, South Korea 7. Geneva, Switzerland 8. Shanghai, China 9.

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