Some of my friends and family in other countries usually complain about how expensive everything is. The funny thing is, people in this country also complain about expensive stuff.
So I would like you to answer a couple of questions about your country and money. Obviously people from different areas in the same country will not agree on all prices, but it will hopefully be interesting to see a comparison of some random stuff.
(by the way, R1 is equal to about 9.6 euro)
What is the average monthly salary of someone like an entry level engineer? (after tax deductions) : R8000
Rent for an average 1 bedroom flat (in the city) : R2200
Bread : R5
Six-pack beer : R30
Medium BigMac meal : R20
Local landline phonecall per minute : R0.4
Basic ADSL line per month : ~380Kb/s, 1GB cap, R450
1 litre of petrol : R5,90
The latest PC games : R300
Movie in an average cinema : R35
Steak in a nice restaurant : R70
Study fees per year (pre-grad) at university : R15 000
Average parking fine : R300
I’m sure I forgot some other intersting stuff, but I probably should get back to work.
Obviously that is true. But is some places the relative cost of food is higher, while the relative cost of a movie is lower. It depends a lot on what products are imported, the industrial or technological state of the country etc.
eg. in an agriculturally focused country corn might be cheap, but most things technological needs to be imported and will be expensive.
Its the whole inflation thing. We’re heading towards another market crash. If you read up on history the market was booming right before it crashed. I’m sure it wont be as bad. But something like that will happen.
Ghaz is right though, different things cost different amounts. Like here in aussie, software costs a heap more than other places. Other random things like that. It all equals the same though ish.
Seriously though, the exchange rate is not always a good gauge to see the real value of things in different countries. Sure R1 = 9.6 Euros or about US$ 8. However, someone in Europe can spent 1Euro more easily than a foreigner having to convert his local currency. (dificult to put it in words)
An example: 3d Studio Max costs $ 4000 in USA and about R 32 000 in SA. However, in SA, one could buy a whole lot more with R 32 000 than you can buy with $ 4000 in USA. Thus 3d Studio Max is far more expensive in SA than in USA. Get it?
That is the real reason why it is so cheap for Europeans and Americans to have a holiday in places like SA. For them everything is exceptionally cheap over here. Therefore, our locals mug them
