Two African cities – Luanda and Juba – are included in the top 10 of a recent ranking of the world’s most expensive cities for expatriates.

In the latest ECA International Cost of Living Survey, Angola’s capital Luanda features in third position, just behind Caracas (Venezuela) and Oslo (Norway), ranked in first and second places respectively. Luanda dropped one space from last year’s ranking.

The only other African city in the top 10 is South Sudan’s capital Juba (ninth).

To compile the ranking, ECA compared the costs of a basket of consumer goods and services commonly purchased by expats. Living costs for expats are influenced by the availability of goods, inflation and exchange rates.

This data is then used by companies to calculate the cost of living allowances for employees on foreign assignments.

According to ECA, the steep costs of importing and transporting goods into some African countries contribute to making them expensive for expats.

Other African cities featuring relatively high in the rankings are Brazzaville (12th), Libreville (14th), Pointe Noire (15th) and Kinshasa (19th). The continent’s cheapest location is Maseru in Lesotho.

Cities in countries such as Ghana, Namibia and South Africa have dropped in the global ranking due to their weak currencies, making them cheaper for employees being relocated there.

Most expensive locations in Africa for international assignees

Africa rank 2014	Location	Global rank 2014	Global rank 2013
1	Luanda	3	2
2	Juba	9	4
3	Brazzaville	12	18
4	Libreville	14	30
5	Pointe Noire	15	24
6	Kinshasa	19	19
7	Abidjan	30	46
8	Dakar	33	47
9	N'Djamena	41	59
10	Abuja	42	39
11	Conakry	43	82
12	Lagos	45	40
13	Cameroon	52	81
14	Malabo	53	92
15	Cotonou	91	114
16	Ouagadougou	95	138
17	Port Harcourt	99	95
18	Bamako	105	127
19	Dar es Salaam	148	164
20	Antananarivo	152	136
21	Maputo	154	120
22	Harare	155	151
23	Niamey	163	196
24	Khartoum	171	146
25	Kampala	175	198
26	Nairobi	176	194
27	Kigali	182	170
28	Rabat	191	212
29	Addis Ababa	193	204
30	Casablanca	196	219
31	Nouakchott	202	208
32	Port Louis	209	222
33	Lusaka	210	201
34	Accra	214	174
35	Algiers	220	225
36	Cairo	227	246
37	Lilongwe	228	235
38	Tunis	235	242
39	Tripoli	236	240
40	Blantyre	237	249
41	Gaborone	253	255
42	Pretoria	254	234
43	Johannesburg	256	252
44	Windhoek	258	254
45	Cape Town	259	256
46	Durban	260	258
47	Mbabane	261	257
48	Maseru	262	260