Mercer’s 2017 Cost of Living Survey finds Asian and European cities – particularly Hong Kong (2), Tokyo (3), Zurich (4), and Singapore (5) – top the list of most expensive cities for expatriates.
However, the costliest city, driven by cost of goods and security, is Luanda (1), the capital of Angola.
Other cities appearing in the top 10 of Mercer’s costliest cities for expatriates are Seoul (6), Geneva (7), Shanghai (8), New York City (9), and Bern (10). Victoria in the Seychelles ranks 14th most expensive city sharing the same ranking with Moscow.
The world’s least expensive cities for expatriates, according to Mercer’s survey, are Tunis (209), Bishkek (208), and Skopje (206).
Cape Town, Blantyre and Windhoek rank amongst the 15 cheapest cities globally.
Sisa Ngebulana To Step Down As Rebosis CEO
Sisa Ngebulana, founder of Rebosis –Â the first black-managed and substantially black-held property fund to be listed on the JSE- will be stepping down as CEO with effect from September 30, according to a Business Day report.
Ngebulana had this to say about his departure: “I stepped down with a heavy heart,” said Ngebulana on Tuesday, 20 June. “But this move has been on the cards for a while. Change is inevitable in our lives and, with no change, there would be no progress. Rebosis needs a more professional and independent management to take it to the next level,” he said.
Andile Mazwai will succeed Ngebulana as chief operating officer.
Ngebulana will take up the position of nonexecutive deputy chairman from 1 October. (via Business Day)
Western Cape Leads the Pack With Clean Audits: AG
The Western Cape continues to set the pace with 80 percent of the province’s municipalities having achieved clean audits, Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu revealed on Wednesday.
The focused intervention and support by the provincial leadership through the premier’s coordinating forum, operating clean audit and the municipal governance review and outlook process continued to bear fruit,” Makwetu said in his executive summary of the voluminous consolidated 2015/16 local government audit outcomes report.
“Although Gauteng continued to perform well and was the only province where 100 percent of the municipalities received unqualified audit opinions on their financial statements, only Midvaal could hold on to its clean audit status. Not paying sufficient attention to supply chain management (SCM) and performance reporting led to three municipalities losing their clean audit status from the previous year.”
With a staggering 80 percent, the Western Cape led the provinces with highest proportion of municipalities with clean audit opinions in 2015-16, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 18 percent and the Eastern Cape with 16 percent.
In accounting terms, a “clean”, or unqualified opinion, is where the financial statements of an entity present a fair and accurate picture of the company and comply with generally accepted accounting principles.
In Gauteng, only Midvaal obtained a clean audit in the 2015/16 report.
Three Gauteng municipalities, Ekurhuleni metro, Sedibeng District and Mogale City regressed from clean audits to unqualified opinion with findings.
The provinces with the poorest outcomes, based on the number of municipalities with disclaimed and adverse opinions or outstanding audits, were North West, Northern Cape and the Free State province at the bottom of the stack. (via African News Agency)
