Joburg and Cape Town Cheapest in World for Beer, Ciggies – Almost
Cape Town and Johannesburg are the cheapest cities in the world to buy cigarettes and beer, beaten only by Manilla in the Philippines, according to an annual Sin Index done by Deutsche Bank. According to the survey, the most expensive city is Melbourne, Australia, where five beers and a pack of smokes costs $65 (R1,016). Cape Town and […]
Cape Town and Johannesburg are the cheapest cities in the world to buy cigarettes and beer, beaten only by Manilla in the Philippines, according to an annual Sin Index done by Deutsche Bank.
According to the survey, the most expensive city is Melbourne, Australia, where five beers and a pack of smokes costs $65 (R1,016). Cape Town and Johannesburg come out at less than a quarter of that, $14.10 and $14 (R218) respectively.
Close on Melbourne’s heels are Singapore, Auckland, New York City and London.
South Africa also rated very modestly in the Cheap Date Index, which included cab rides, a meal for two at a pub or diner, soft drinks, two cinema tickets and a couple of beers. Versus $201 in Zurich, Switzerland, Cape Town was less than $50.
Mumbai, Jakarta, Bangalore and Jakarta were cheaper than Cape Town, but not much. “Indeed in all of these places you can have at least four dates for the price of one in Zurich – but please don’t tell the other three people,” the index’s author Deutsche’s Jim Reid was quoted as saying.
As for cheap weekends, Johannesburg was one of the five cheapest places, again almost a third the price of a weekend away in Zurich. The gauge was two nights at a 5-star hotel, two pub meals for two, two restaurant dinners for two, car rentals for two days, two pints of beer, four litres of soft drinks and the purchase of a pair of jeans and a pair of sports shoes.
