Kota Kinabalu among cheapest places to live for expatriates

A beautiful sunset at Tanjung Aru beach in Kota Kinabalu. - Filepic

PETALING JAYA: Kota Kinabalu is one of the cheapest cities in the world for expatriates to live in, says Forbes. 

Live and Invest Overseas founder Kathleen Peddicord rated Kota Kinabalu as among her top choice for cheapest places worldwide for expatriates to live, in a list published by Forbes on Jan 11. 

Kota Kinabalu was also the cheapest among eight places on the list described as "so cheap that you barely need to work - if at all?"  

"This laid-back and quiet city is one of the most pleasant places to live in Asia and is incredibly welcoming. Its biggest practical advantages are the low cost of living and the high standard (and low cost) of health care," it said.

  

The city was also described as small and walkable, while “life revolves around the water and is lived out-of-doors”. 

Kota Kinabalu has an emerging expatriate community and offers a mix of adventure and exotic as well as a “serene, close-to-nature lifestyle at a cost that’s a global bargain", it said. 

Peddicord estimated the monthly cost of living in Kota Kinabalu at US$850 (RM3,794) per person. 

This is inclusive of rent (RM2,500), transportation (RM100), gas (RM20), electricity (RM200), water (RM20), telephone (RM50), Internet (RM60), cable TV (RM70), entertainment (RM253) and groceries (RM550).  

It is based on monthly living cost of a single person and includes the cost of renting a two-bedroom apartment in a neighbourhood where “an American would be comfortable living”. 

The other cities on the list are Chiang Mai, Thailand (US$1,000); Carvoeiro, Algarve, Portugal (US$1,150); Santa Familia, Cayo, Belize (US$1,200); Granada, Nicaragua (US$1,225); Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic (US$1,250); Barcelona, Spain (US$1,600), and El Poblado, Medellin, Colombia (US$1,650). 

These budgets do not include travel, clothes, health insurance and other costs.

-thestar online.