Financial Tribune- Tehran is among the least expensive cities in the world to live in, according to the latest findings of the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2018 by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

The survey, which compares the price of over 150 items in 133 cities, found the cost of living in Tehran is nearly half that of the benchmark city of New York.

The capital city fell by two places in this year�s ranking to 121st most expensive city in the world, narrowly avoiding the bottom 10.

Singapore remains the most expensive city in the world for the fifth year running, 16% more expensive than New York.

Three other cities from the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong (4th), Seoul (6th) and Sydney (10th), appear in the top 10, along with five cities from Europe: Paris and Zurich (2nd), Oslo (5th), Geneva (6th) and Copenhagen (8th).

With the dollar weakening against other currencies, no city in the United States ranked among the 10 most expensive cities, although New York and Los Angeles were ranked 13th and 14th respectively, compared with 9th and 11th places of last year.

Damascus was the world�s least expensive city (133rd), followed by Caracas, Almaty, Lagos, Bangalore and Karachi.

The Central Bank of Iran�s latest report shows the average goods and services Consumer Price Index for urban areas in the 12 months ending Feb. 19, which marks the end of the Iranian month of Bahman, increased by 9.9% compared with last year�s corresponding period.

The index registered a year-on-year increase of 9.4% compared with the similar month of last year. The CBI report came after the Statistical Center of Iran put Bahman inflation at 8.3%.