According to this Standard article, Nairobi has now surpassed Lagos, Luanda and even world class cities like Cape Town in terms of cost of livingWhich if true is amazing because 60% of Nairobians live in slums.
I dont know if Nairobi is actually the highest but it is surely up there, yet it should not be if things were done better.
16% VAT is cited as one reason.
But I think there might be other factors driving up the cost of living
- Kenyans penchant for land speculation is driving the cost of housing up.
- All that petrol that Nairobians waste stuck in traffic jams. Nairobians likely use twice as much petrol as people in western cities use for the same distance.
- Constant stop and go driving is very bad for your engine and leads to mechanical problems.
- Poor Roads: Cars in Nairobi are in constant need of repair because of potholes
- Cost of security: During my praimo days, people did not even need watchies. Now Even slum dwellers have to hire maasais to escort them home.
- Cost of crime: Having to replace stolen items
- Salary inflation: Kenyans constantly demanding higher salaries leads to rent inflation --> It allows landlords to hike rents
- Inflation caused by rich refugees: Rich somalis coming as refugees and willing to play exorbitant rents
- Poor city planning: With rental units cropping up everywhere, it makes it more expensive to build infrastructure like roads or to even provide basics like water.
- Land grabbing well connected people also makes building infrastructure expensive
- Inadequate housing : Instead of building city council houses, they have left it to private developers
And many other factors