Businessman Datta Phuge bought this blingtacular 24 karat gold shirt in central India last year for $228,000. Photo: RANKA JEWELLERS
Despite the cost of living in Jakarta continuing to rise (with an increase of 14.2% just this year according to the government’s own calculations), it is still apparently a bargain compared to most other cities in Asia – at least if you’re looking to live a ballin’ bling-bling lifestyle.
That’s according to “The 2015 Wealth Report Asia,” published by Swiss private bank Julius Baer, which calculated the cost of luxury living in cities throughout Asia.
To create what it calls the “Julius Baer Lifestyle Index”, the report’s researchers surveyed the prices of such essential luxury goods and services as botox, golf club memberships, wine, diamond rings and designer shoes across the region to figure which Asian cities give the glitterati the greatest bang for their buck (or baht, or ringgit, or rupiah etc).
In terms of luxury services, Jakarta came out at the bottom of their rankings, which in this case is a good thing as it means you can get them cheaper here than just about anywhere else in Asia (Hong Kong topped the luxury service price survey).
As for luxury goods, our Louboutins are a bit more expensive than some others, putting us fourth from the bottom in the price ranking, above Mumbai, Manilla, and surprisingly, Tokyo (all our luxury import taxes really add up, apparently).
But in the combined goods and services index, only Mumbai offers people more opportunities for luxury living at rock-bottom prices than Jakarta. Shanghai topped the list, meaning the Chinese have to shell out way more to live the nouveau-riche lifestyle
The report is quite the ridiculous read, but if you ever wanted to know things like how much a box of fine cigars cost in Shanghai versus Jakarta ($1,483 vs $1,152, respectively) it’s a good source of information. You can read the full report here.
