Tuesday, October 30, 2007

More on prices

It keeps going, this prices in Dubai thing.

To recap, in my earlier posting saying that Dubai wasn't as expensive as many western expats claim, there was a comment about Spinneys here in Dubai selling New Zealand rib-eye steak at the 'rip off' price of Dh65 a kilo.

A New Zealand friend sent me the prices there - which range fom Dh45 for rump steak to Dh84 for fillet.

Now a friend in Australia has just sent me the local butcher's price for steaks in Sydney...where T-bone is Dh50 and fillet is Dh89 a kilo.

While I was in Europe a couple of weeks ago I did the usual 'BigMac Index'.
Here are the comparative prices of a BigMac, converted to dirhams at today's exchange rates.

Amsterdam Dh15.80
Munich Dh16.60
Lucerne Dh34.32
London Dh25.80

Dubai Dh10

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

In Dubai can you still get the super size Mac's? last time I was there you still could despite not being allowed in Britain as we cant decide what size are meals should be :(

Seabee said...

anon, I don't know, I never eat the things. When I went to check the BigMac price they were pushing 'Value Added Meals', whatever that means.

Anonymous said...

True... most services including "labour / staff / etc." are cheaper than in Europe, UK, etc. simly because (as we all know) waiters, tailors, hotel staff and cleaners earn very low salaries. When it comes to imported items or exclusive brands, THAT'S when prices start boardering the ridiculous levels... and the real estate? Well, that's an issue we don't need to discuss :-)

Anonymous said...

Same old argument.......

1) Dubai salaries are on average lower than London salaries,

2) Labor is much cheaper here than in London,

so relatively speaking, is a Big Mac really cheaper than in London?

Seabee said...

mohammed the answer is 'yes'. I'm talking about western expats complaining that Dubai is expensive. A Brit's salary is not on average lower here than he'd be getting back in the UK.