Angola’s capital is fourth most expensive city for business travel in the world

According to a new report by management consultants, ECA International, Luanda, the capital of oil-rich Southern African nation Angola is the fourth most expensive country in the world for business travel.

The country only trails New York, USA; Geneva, Switzerland; and Zurich, Switzerland.

ECA International ranks the cities on the average cost for four-star hotel accommodation, meals, drinks, laundry, transport and other essentials.

Demand also plays a role. Places with high demand for business, that is, global business hubs, tend to rank higher, as demand hikes up prices for resources that are vyed for by larger numbers of visitors.

For Luanda, the following is true. The NYTimes explained the trend as follows:

“In the past decade, tens of thousands of American and European employees of international oil conglomerates, fortified by generous cost-of-living allowances, have descended on Luanda. […] The country now produces 1.8 million barrels of oil a day; in Africa, only Nigeria produces and exports more. The boom has transformed a failed state into one of the world’s fastest-growing economies”. 

Finally, security affects a country’s standing. ECA International ranked Luanda high on its list because of the country’s high security risks.

“Places with security issues are very high, because the number of hotels is less, because of the high security demands that go with it — and everybody who’s there for business stays in the same hotels which have high levels of security. Luanda, Angola takes the No. 4 spot on the list — in part because of security factors,” CNN reports.

Angola’s economy is expected to grow by 2.2% this year and 2.4% in 2019. The county’s annual GDP growth peaked at an astounding 23% in 2008, and exceeded 10% for 5 out of 6 years between 2003 and 2009.