Will be travelling to Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park – famous for its volcanoes – in Indonesia next week. Still a few days to go, but I have a few personal matters to settle before the trip, thus the blog will not be updated until I’m back next weekend (Nov 14). See you again then.
So, what’s the millionaire’s trip about? Apparently Indonesian Rupiah is one of the least valued currency units; got myself 1.9 million Rupiahs (~US$200) the other day, which literally makes me a millionaire just like many others lol.
In case you are wondering, the world’s least valued currency is the Vietnamese đồng, which took over the #1 spot in April 2009 from the suspended Zimbabwean dollar, which had a 100 trillion dollar banknote (~US$33) at some point.
Tokyo has knocked Moscow off the top spot as the world’s most expensive city for expatriates, according to the latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer.
Currency fluctuation is the major factor for the ups and downs; London, Seoul, and Sydney etc. are dropped significantly because of weakened currency.
10 most expensive cities in 2009 [2008 ranking in brackets]
1. Tokyo, Japan (2)
2. Osaka, Japan (11)
3. Moscow, Russia (1)
4. Geneva, Switzerland (8)
5. Hong Kong, China (6)
6. Zürich, Switzerland (9)
7. Copenhagen, Denmark (7)
8. New York City, USA (22)
9. Beijing, China (20)
10. Singapore (13)
There are 1 million industrial robots around the world (as of Dec 2008), and Japan has the highest density with 295 robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers.
Singapore and Korea are second and third respectively on the chart, but significantly behind Japan in numbers [illustration by Mike Vella; more on IEEE]
The short and simple story (two-part videos) of the credit crisis, by Jonathan Jarvis…
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Taiwanese government is spending NT$83 billion (USD2.47 billion) on their shopping voucher program to boost domestic consumption and stimulate the economy.
Taiwan’s citizens and eligible residents (foreign spouses etc.) are receiving shopping vouchers worth NT$3,600 (USD107) from the government, regardless of age and financial capability (wealthy people are encouraged to donate the vouchers though).
The distribution has started on January 18th, just soon enough for Chinese New Year spending spree. The vouchers are valid until September 2009 and not exchangeable to cash… so the people are ‘forced’ to spend on it.
USD107 might not seem much, but for a small family of four… it added up to USD428, which should be quite useful during the current economic situation.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is issuing a 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar banknote (~USD33) as the country’s hyperinflation continues to worsen…
The 100,000,000,000,000 dollar note (Image via
Chinanews (Cn))
Singapore tops the Asian ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 conducted by the World Economic Forum (and partners) using both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey.
The annual report assesses the ability of countries to provide high levels of prosperity to their citizens, which in turn depends on how productively a country uses available resources. Thus, the index measures the set of institutions, policies, and factors that set the sustainable current and medium-term levels of economic prosperity.
The top 10 overall ranking are USA, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Germany, Japan and Canada.
The top 10 Asian economic entities are Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China and UAE.
Moscow is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates for the third consecutive year, according to the latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer.
Mercer’s survey is arguably the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey and is used to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.
The survery covers 143 cities across six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
Top 10 most expensive cities in 2008
Moscow (Russia), Tokyo (Japan), London (UK), Oslo (Norway), Seoul (South Korea), Hong Kong (China), Copenhagen (Denmark), Geneva (Switzerland), Zurich (Switzerland) and Milan (Italy).
Surprisingly US have only one city in the top 50 (New York at 22nd)… and Canada don’t even make it into top 50. Perhaps we should migrate to that region instead lol.
