What bullshit! SA cheapest in the world? No way!

According to a new report, citing dollar strength against many global currencies, by GoBankingRates it should be a breeze to afford lekker stuff in SA. But those who live there has ridiculed the logic.

See how people responded on Facebook:

Duncan MacDonald” This is a load of codswallop. It should be about how you live on your income and most South Africans are battling because the ANC government has destroyed the Rand value and the economy. The per capita GDP is about 1/3 of what it should be. South Africa is one of the cheaper countries to live in provided you are employed by government or your income is in a strong foreign currency.

Marius Knoetze: We live in a country where we get taxed literally to our knees, we have the most overcharged cellular/telecommunications networks in the world, white farmers get murdered, farms are taken over by wrong management which causes food price hikes. Not to mention the drought. This analysis must be from the 80’s…

Kymon Giannakopoulos: Cheap for cabinet, getting a salary of over a million a year, of which they can purchase a car, not any car- has to be a Bmw. Then theres accomodation & free domestic service.

Jan Olivier: What on earth are you trying to say with this article? It got my attention with SA is the cheapest country in the World to live in. WOW now that’s how one gets the attention. Pitty that you couldn’t provide this stats to J Zuma…

Esmeralda Ibanez Freire: The true cost of living in South Africa is astronomical. We are prisoners of our own homes, security doors, bars for windows, alarms, barbed wire, electric fences, security firms, moving to safer complexes and then getting hijacked at the gates…..the list goes on and on and food,petrol, and other living expenses are not yet included! Cheap my foot.

The article that’s got everyone in a rant compared 112 country’s:

Local purchasing power index: Measures the relative purchasing power of a typical salary in that country, compared to New York City. A lower purchasing power buys fewer goods, while a higher purchasing power buys more.
Rent index: Compares typical rental prices in the country to New York City.
Groceries index: Compares typical grocery prices in the country to New York City.
Consumer price index: Compares costs of local goods and services — including restaurants, groceries, transportation and utilities — to New York City.

The report compared prices with those in New York and said of South Africa:

Local purchasing power is 26.9% higher
Rent is 87.5% cheaper
Groceries are 71% cheaper
Local goods and services are 65.8% cheaper

“South Africa is the cheapest country to live or retire. It’s also the world’s largest producer of platinum, gold and chromium, which goes far to enrich the country and its economy.

“This resulted in a local purchasing power that’s significantly higher than what New Yorkers face, which is the most favourable factor that puts South Africa at No. 1,” GoBanking Rates said.

It said that along with a higher local purchasing power, South Africa also offers lower prices on consumer goods and groceries, and rent costs that are typical of the 50 cheapest countries.

In the major city of Cape Town, for instance, monthly expenses total just under $400 while the average rent costs are reflected by the typical price to rent a one-bedroom in Durban of around $280 a month, the report said.

The second cheapest country, India has a local purchasing power of 20.9% lower than New York, while rent is 95.2% cheaper, groceries are 74.4% cheaper, and local goods and services are 74.9% cheaper.

Elsewhere in Africa, Zambia is sixth, Algeria (25th), Tunisia (34th), Egypt (43rd), Morocco (46th), Namibia (53rd), Kenya (79th), Ghana (108th).

Top 10 cheapest countries to live and retire

South Africa
India
Kosovo
Saudi Arabia
Kazakhstan
Zambia
Oman
Paraguay
Czech Republic
Macedonia

Somebody has gone bonkers by trying to prove that South Africa is the cheapest country in the world to live and retire. Not so - says South Africans who live there.