Bahrain one of cheapest places to live in

Manama : Bahrain is among the cheapest places for expatriates to live in, according to the results of a survey.

The Kingdom made it to the top 30 of the ranking list compiled by InterNations, a global expatriate network.14,000 expatriates from around the world were surveyed for the study. Bahrain came 23rd in the list.

All GCC countries fared well- Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait were all in the top 50. Saudi Arabia came 9th, Oman 18th, Bahrain 23rd, UAE 37th, Kuwait 45th and Qatar 46th. Ecuador was the cheapest country in the list, Central European countries Poland and Czech Republic came second and third respectively.

“The neighbourhoods where expats live are usually more secure and more premium. Thus the costs directly reflect this. Food items typical of Western, South Asian and Far East cuisines, for example, are imported and naturally cost more as they differ somewhat from local tastes,” said Hashim Zein, an American engineer for OLG in Nigeria and representative for InterNations.

In the 2015 survey‚ the cheapest countries for expats were Ecuador‚ Mexico‚ Malta‚ Singapore‚ Luxembourg‚ New Zealand‚ Thailand‚ Panama‚ Canada and Australia.