【英语生活】澳大利亚四大城市生活成本飙升

A rise in the value of the Australian dollar and surging demand spurred by a mining boom has made Australian cities among the least affordable in the world for skilled expatriates, a survey by consulting firm Mercer showed Tuesday.

Sydney, Australia's largest city, is now the 14th most expensive city in the world, up from 24th a year ago, according to Mercer, while the mining capital of Western Australia, Perth, rallied 30 places to 30th place. Melbourne rose 12 places to rank 21st and Brisbane rose 24 places to 31st.

After a near 30% rise in the Aussie dollar in the past year and a mining boom described as a 'once in a century' opportunity, Australia now has four of the 31 most expensive cities in the world. Thanks to seven interest rate increases by Australia's central bank and rising demand for iron ore and coal in China, the country's currency has leapfrogged in the past year to levels not seen in three decades. But the findings of the Mercer survey will add to fears that Australia's competitiveness could be hit by the rising cost of living.

'We need foreign labor to meet our skills shortages and this makes it a lot harder because it erodes foreigners' savings pretty quickly,' said Matthew Robinson, senior economist at Moody's Analytics.

Mercer's annual cost of living survey covers 214 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. Luanda, the capital of Angola, was ranked as the world's most expensive city for expatriates for the second year in a row, due to a boom from the development of the African nation's oil industry.

Like Angola, the ability to attract skilled workers remains one of the few risks to Australia's mining boom and economists are growing worried about what the rising cost of living could mean for tempting expatriates to its shores. Last week, the training and work force development minister of Western Australia state, Peter Collier, set off on a 10-day recruiting trip to the U.K. and Ireland, noting that the 109 billion Australian dollars (US$116.2 billion) worth of projects under way in the state need workers.

Rising inflation, like many booming economies in Asia, poses the most immediate risk to growth in the Pacific nation and is expected to force the Reserve Bank of Australia to increase rates again this year to meet its target level below 3%.

咨询公司美世(Mercer)周二发布的调查报告显示，受澳元升值及矿业蓬勃发展带动的需求激增影响，澳大利亚多个城市已跻身对外籍技术人员来说全球生活成本最昂贵城市之列。

美世的这份报告显示，在全球最贵城市排名中，澳大利亚第一大城市悉尼从一年前的第24位上升至目前的第14位，而位于澳洲西部的矿业之都珀斯(Perth)更是大幅跃升了30位，目前排名第30位。墨尔本上升了12位至第21，布里斯班上升了24位至第31。

继去年澳元升值近30%以及出现了被称为“百年不遇”的矿业发展良机后，澳大利亚目前有四个城市跻身全球最贵的31个城市之列。由于澳大利亚央行(Reserve Bank of Australia)过去七次加息以及中国对铁矿石和煤炭需求不断增加，澳元在过去一年大幅升值至30年来前所未有的高度。但美世的调查结果将使人们进一步担心：澳大利亚的竞争力可能会被不断上涨的生活成本所削弱。

穆迪分析公司(Moody's Analytics)高级经济学家鲁宾逊(Matthew Robinson)说，我们需要招募外籍员工，以此解决澳洲技术人员短缺问题，而生活成本上涨却让招募外籍员工难上加难，因为这种情况迅速侵蚀着外籍员工的积蓄。

美世的年度生活成本报告选取全球五大洲214个城市为调查对象，具体衡量每个城市中超过200件商品的比较成本，商品范围覆盖住房、交通、食品、服装、家用物品和娱乐等。安哥拉首都罗安达连续第二年被评为对外籍员工而言全球最贵城市，原因是这个非洲国家的石油业迅速发展。

和安哥拉一样，是否有能力吸引技术人才仍是澳洲矿业热潮所面临的少数几个风险之一，同时经济学家越来越担心，不断上涨的生活成本对吸引外籍技术人才来澳洲工作可能意味着什么。西澳大利亚州培训和劳动力发展部长科里尔(Peter Collier)上周启程前往英国和爱尔兰，开始了为期10天的招募人才之旅。他指出，该州正在建设的价值1,090亿澳元(合1,162亿美元)的项目需要人手。

跟亚洲很多新兴经济体一样，不断加剧的通胀同样也是威胁澳大利亚这个太平洋岛国经济增长的最直接风险，预计将迫使澳大利亚央行今年再次加息，以实现通胀低于3%的目标。