Hong Kong, Singapore and Osaka have just been ranked as the world’s most expensive cities to live in. But this may not be the case after the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll.

Cities that get a large part of their income from tourism could become cheaper as their economies shrink and prices are driven down. This is one of the predictions made by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which tracks living costs globally.

Its Worldwide Cost of Living Survey for 2020 was compiled in November 2019, before the coronavirus became a pandemic. It’s next survey could look very different. “Cities that rely on tourism should see some downward pressure on prices. So Singapore and Hong Kong might not hold the top spot going forward. We could see a different city on top,” said Simon Baptist, the EIU’s chief economist.(BBC)…[+]