The Sarawak division of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) is disturbed and embarrassed by the PM’s claim that cost of living in Malaysia is the lowest in Asean. The PM had relied on the Economist Intelligence Unit 2017 Global survey on the cost of living in 153 cities worldwide.

He seemed not to realise that the survey is intended for expatriates and international business travellers to determine their salaries and are measured in US dollars, not ringgit.

Unless our salaries are in US dollars, the survey indicates that lower-cost cities actually mean local citizens have to pay in ringgit.

Kuala Lumpur is ranked cheaper mainly due to the freefall of the ringgit. As an example, the survey stated that “further devaluation of the Argentinian peso has pushed Buenos Aires down the ranking by 20 places to 82nd place”.

It is also worth remembering that local inflation is often counteracted by economic weakness and slumping exchange rates. As a result, cities that see the highest inflation will often see their cost of living fall compared with that of their global peers.

The PM should also note the lowest cities are also the less liveable according to the same survey.

We should not proud to be ranked lower when the lowest ‘cost of living’ cities are in Nigeria , Zimbabwe, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

According to the survey ,”This year it is Almaty, Kazakhstan’s business centre, that props up the ranking, having fallen by six places in the last 12 months. Almaty’s citizens may not feel that the city is getting cheaper; despite measures to control prices, Almaty has seen inflation approaching 20 percent during 2016. However local price rises have not completely offset a 50 percent devaluation in the tenge (the Kazakh currency).”

ANDREW LO is secretary, MTUC, Sarawak division.