LONDON, June 26: Moscow has surged past Tokyo and London to become the world’s costliest city with a cost of living almost 25 per cent higher than in New York, Mercer Human Resource Consulting said on Monday in its annual survey.

Designed as a reference guide for staff on international placements, the survey allocates New York 100 as its benchmark and ranks every other city against it.

On that basis, Moscow surged three places from 2005 to come in top of the league with 123.9, followed by Seoul, also up three places on 121.7, and Tokyo, last year’s leader, on 119.1.

Hong Kong climbed five places to fourth on 116.3, with London down two to fifth place on 110.6, Osaka down four to sixth on 108.3 and Geneva down one to seventh on 103.

Copenhagen was unchanged at eighth on 101.1 and Oslo likewise unchanged at 10th equal on 100 — the same score as New York which was down three places.

Paraguay’s capital Asuncion remained in last place on the list of 144 cities on six continents with a score of 43.5.—Reuters