The Malaysian Insider, an online Malaysian news website, examined the purchasing power of Malaysians in comparison to nationals of other countries. The website cited a 2010 Prices and Wages report by UBS AG, a Swiss banking giant.
Here are the highlights:
The purchasing power of KL residents is 33.8% of New Yorkers; 42% compared to London, 33.7% to Sydney, 32.6% to Los Angeles, and 31.6% to Zurich.
KL workers need to labour 22 minutes for a bread loaf. In comparison, Los Angeles counterparts take 18 minutes. In Sydney, it s 16 minutes. In Tokyo, 15 minutes. In Zurich, 12 minutes.
The Malaysian Insider also compared broadband prices in Malaysia to those in countries. Even after currency conversion, Malaysia comes out on top... in expensiveness. Here s the summary:
Kuala Lumpur - 5Mbps broadband package - RM149
London - 10Mbps broadband package - GBP13.50
Melbourne - 5-8Mbps broadband package - AUD40
New York - 7Mbps broadband package - USD41.95
Here s another tidbit from The Malaysian Insider article:
In KL, a Honda Civic is priced at RM115,000 - 20 times an auditor s average monthly earnings.
In Melbourne & London, the price is respectively AUD25,000 and GBP19,000 - 3 times an auditor s average monthly earnings in those places.