13-02-2012 23:23 Child Protection and Estate Planning Webinar for Aussie Expats - Todd Pallett
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Child Protection and Estate Planning Webinar for Aussie Expats - with Todd Pallett - Video
Wellington and Auckland have become among the most expensive cities in the world for expatriates to live in.
But local residents may have gained some benefit from the key factor behind the rise in costs to new arrivals - the strengthening of the New Zealand dollar.
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) latest Worldwide Cost of Living survey, Auckland is now the 15th costliest city in the world, up from 24th previously, while Wellington rose 16 places to be equal 17th with London.
The index measures the cost of an expatriate lifestyle in over 130 cities using a weighted average of the prices of 160 products and services.
EIU editor Jon Copestake said the cost of living in Auckland and Wellington had doubled for expatriates in the past decade.
New Zealanders would not have noticed that sort of rise, although they might have noticed living costs "creeping up", Copestake told Radio NZ.
Supply side inflation pushing up the cost of living in the past few years had fed into many economies.
"But the main issue here is currency movement. It seems that the New Zealand dollar and the Australian dollar have become haven currencies. They've had a lot of investment in them over the last few years. And this is what's really driven the rise up the rankings for New Zealand and Australian cities," Copestake said.
"People coming into New Zealand will see the relative cost of living much higher. I think in fact, in a sense, there's a benefit to Wellington and Auckland people in that they might actually see the cost of imports going down because things will become relatively cheaper in other currencies, and they will actually find maybe the cost of travelling abroad slightly cheaper."
While there were advantages in that respect, the two cities were becoming uncompetitive in price terms.
But Copestake also identified another reason for residents of Auckland and Wellington to relax, pointing to an apparent growing correlation between being an expensive city internationally, and being ranked among the most liveable cities.
"So in a sense, the fact that there's a high cost of living in Wellington and Auckland is probably also partly reflected in the high liveability you can enjoy in those cities."
The EIU living costs survey ranked Sydney in seventh place, Melbourne eighth, Perth 12th, Brisbane 13th and Adelaide 17th.
For the first time in at least two decades, Zurich topped the rankings, moving up four places compared to last year to overtake Tokyo which remained in 2nd place.
Geneva, the other Swiss city surveyed, moved up six places into joint third alongside Osaka.
Both Japan and Switzerland had seen strong currency movements in the past few years which had made them relatively more expensive, the EIU said.
As well as currency movement, structural factors maintained the high cost of living in many cities.
Despite Eurozone weaknesses affecting markets such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy, the evidence was that German and French cities were still relatively expensive with Paris and Frankfurt holding firm in the 10 most expensive - at sixth and tenth, respectively.
Oslo, which was considered the world's most expensive city a few years ago remained towards the top of the ranking - in fifth - although Singapore's presence, at ninth, in the top 10 highlighted a shift away from Western Europe towards Asian hubs.
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NZ cities among most expensive for expats
Indian, Egyptian expats to meet on football pitch To demonstrate their support for the National Sports Day, a team of the Qatar Indian Football Fraternity (QIFF India) will meet an Egyptian XI in a football match to be played at Qatar Sports Club tomorrow. The match is being organised by the Qatar Sports Club.
The National Sports Day was celebrated across the country yesterday.
The kick-off of the exhibition match, sponsored by Doha Bank, is at 6 30 pm.
QIFF India officials said though their opponents are a very strong team, it is a rare opportunity for their players to play against a stronger team of Doha-based Egyptian players.
Since the QIFF team was constituted on a short notice following an appeal made to the team management by Qatar Sports Club officials, they could mobilise only players who took part in the successful Qatar Kerala Inter-District Football Tournament held more than two months ago at Doha Stadium.
“We know it well that there are many others who play football in the Indian community but we did not get enough time to contact those players,” said QIFF general secretary Abdul Rahman Hassanar.
A QSC official said the match was scheduled for tomorrow owing to the convenience of players and football fans in both the expatriate groups.
The QIFF has made arrangements to transport football fans to the venue of the match from such locations as Al Attiyah Market, Safari Mall, Ali International Trading Establishment (Industrial Area), Town Centre Bin Omran, Dasman Centre Airport Road and Shalimar Restaurant,also on Airport Road.
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Indian, Egyptian expats to meet on football pitch
ISLAMABAD ? The Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday decided to grant voting rights to overseas Pakistanis. The decision will allow 3.7 million Pakistanis living abroad to vote.
The debate on whether overseas Pakistanis should be allowed to participate in Pakistan’s elections gained steam after Pakistan Tehrike Insaf chairman Imran Khan moved the Supreme Court requesting that Pakistanis living abroad should be permitted to vote.
At a meeting of the commission on Tuesday, which was chaired by ECP secretary Ishtiak Ahmed Khan, participants from various political parties decided that names of overseas Pakistanis will be registered in the electoral rolls.
A voting mechanism has yet to be decided, but the participants discussed various proposals, including the option of postal balloting and setting up polling booths at Pakistani embassies.
Sources said non-resident Pakistanis above 18 years of age would be tracked by the National Database and Registration Authority and they would be sent ballot papers by post. The next general elections are scheduled for 2013.
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Pakistani expats get voting rights
Rs 24.5 lakh cr stashed by Indians in banks abroad: CBI Press Trust of India / New Delhi Feb 13, 2012, 15:06 IST
Indians are the largest depositors in banks abroad with an estimated $500 billion (nearly Rs 24.5 lakh crore) of illegal money stashed by them in tax havens, the CBI Director said today.
India, in particular, has suffered from the flow of illegal funds to tax havens such as Mauritius, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, British Virgin islands etc.
"It is estimated that around $500 billion of illegal money belonging to Indians is deposited in tax havens abroad. Largest depositors in Swiss Banks are also reported to be Indians," CBI Director AP Singh said speaking at the inauguration of first interpol global programme on anti-corruption and asset recovery.
He said getting information about such illegal transactions is a time taking process as investigators have to peel each layer by sending judicial requests to the country where such deposits have been made.
"Fifty three per cent of the countries said to be least corrupt by the Transparency International Index are offshore tax havens, where most of the corrupt money goes. The tax havens include New Zealand which is ranked as the least corrupt country, Singapore ranked number five and Switzerland number seven," Singh said.
He said there is a lack of political will in the leading tax haven states to part with the information because they are aware of the extent to which their economies have become "geared to this flow of illegal capitals from the poorer countries."
The CBI Director said tracing, freezing, confiscation and repatriation of stolen assets is a legal challenge, a complex process which requires expertise and political will.
"Managing the asset recovery investigation is complex, time consuming, costly and most importantly requires expertise and political will. There are many obstacles to asset recovery.
Not only is it a specialised legal process filled with delays and uncertainty, but there are also language barriers and a lack of trust when working with other countries," Singh said.
He said global financial markets allow money to travel faster and further making tracking the money trail in such cases even more difficult which necessitates the organisation of such global training programs as they enhance the knowledge of investigators in tracking assets created out of corrupt and criminal acts.
Singh said criminals are using the territorial issues of investigating agencies to their advantage by spreading their crimes to at least two countries and investing in a third.
"In some of the recent important cases being investigated by the CBI such as 2G, CWG and Madhu Koda, we find that money is taken to Dubai/Singapore/Mauritius from where it goes to Switzerland and other such tax havens.
"For criminals all it involves is setting up of a few shell companies and then making layered transfers from account to another in a matter of hours as there are no boundaries in banking transactions," he said.
He said the World Bank estimates the cross border flow of money from criminal activities and tax evasion is around $1.5 trillion of which $40 billion is bribe paid to government servants in developing countries.
Singh quoted the report to say that only $5 billion of this money has been repatriated during 15 years.
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Rs 24.5 lakh cr stashed by Indians in banks abroad: CBI