Living in the world's most expensive city

There's an article on BBC "Living in the world's most expensive city," which is none other than Luanda, Angola. 

Monrovia is also extremely expensive and it appears that Monrovia is expensive for the very same reasons: aftermath of a prolonged civil conflict, broken down infrastructure resulting high prices for basic commodities and energy, high rents created by an expatriate bubble, and very little local production and necessity to import almost everything. 

The article interviews various expatriates who live and work in Luanda. The comments and observations they made could almost describe the scene in Monrovia: tomatoes are so expensive here you'd think they were made of gold, rents for ordinary apartments in those exclusive compounds where the UN crowd lives are sky high and drive up rents elsewhere, and the quality of the average item or service you buy never matches the price!

However, there is a way to live more economically as some of the more practical residents of Luanda are doing. Likewise, one can find cheaper accommodation in Monrovia - it's not in a compound but in available for example in central Monrovia in the commercial areas, usually above the businesses and shops. The apartments are available unfurnished and have very reasonable rents.  One can buy one's vegetables, fruits and meats outside of the supermarkets and one can save money. Sometimes it is a matter of getting as far away from the supermarket as possible and buy from the market women. I avoid buying meat from the supermarkets but from the butcher.  I have also heard some farms have cropped up and it is cheaper to buy directly from them. 

You'd think that these measures are so basic, so commonsense and why bother even pointing these out! But most expatriates who live in these post-conflict countries which are experiencing a double aid-and-foreign-investment boom can't seem to think normally as they would back home. 

So yes, Monrovia is also extremely expensive but there are ways to save that hard-earned cash and put it to be better use. Of course, one still misses have the variety of options as a consumer, one misses the variety of fresh produce, one misses the quality of service and goods back home but at the same time, life is quite simple in these places. 

Let's hope that we have more competition in Liberia and prices are driven down for basic things. Let's hope we have more options and choices. And let's hope that domestic production also takes off. It'll be nice to see more products made in Liberia on the shelves.