HK ranked fifth most expensive place to live
A twice-yearly survey has ranked Hong Kong as the world's fifth most expensive place to live, with the city dropping down a place from last year, while Singapore maintained pole position for the ninth time, tying with Zurich.  The survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) showed that an easing of supply-chain disruptions has slowed the pace of price increases globally, but they still remain high.  The research corporation said prices globally rose by 7.4 percent on average in the past year for over 200 commonly used goods and services, which was a decline from the 8.1 percent increase seen last year.  Of the categories covered, utility prices rose the slowest over the past year, while grocery prices continued to rise strongly.  The mainland cities covered in the survey fell down the cost ranking because of a slow post-pandemic economic recovery, subdued consumer demand and a weaker renminbi, EIU said.  "Asia continues to see relatively low price increases on average, with four Chinese and two Japanese cities among the biggest movers down the ranking this year. Despite upside risks, we expect inflation to decelerate further in 2024, easing price rises globally," said Upasana Dutt, head of Worldwide Cost of Living at EIU. After Singapore and Zurich, Geneva and New York are the next most expensive cities in the latest ranking.