The euro: how much does yours buy?

[Olivier]

From EUObserver:

The euro: how much does yours buy?

Euro zone shoppers may all use the same money, but it doesn't buy them the same amount of goods.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - If you want real value for money in the Euro zone, move to Luxembourg.

That is the result of a survey conducted by the German government statistics agency, which calculated the relative value of one German euro in other Euro zone states and 77 other countries around the world.

According to the survey, one German euro is worth only 83 cents - in relative terms - in Finland, meaning that the cost of goods and services in Helsinki is 17 percent higher than in Berlin.

Only in Luxembourg - where things are two percent cheaper - are Euro zone citizens better off.

A Berliner lives 14 percent more cheaply than his counterpart in Paris, nine percent more cheaply than his neighbour in Rome and is 16 percent better off than an old friend in Dublin.

More for your euro in Eastern Europe
But when the Eastern European countries join the euro, everything will change. Luxembourg will easily lose its position as the best value country in the zone to the Czech Republic, where a German euro currently buys you the equivalent of 1.36 euro - i.e. Prague is 36 percent cheaper.

Similar results were found for Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

But life is more expensive in countries that have decided not to join the euro at the moment. London is 19 percent dearer than Berlin and Stockholm is 16 percent more expensive.

The survey was conducted in 91 countries using a representative basket of 210 goods - including electrical items and other household goods.

According to the report, the most expensive place is Tokyo, which is 39 percent more expensive than Germany and the least expensive is Bogata in Columbia - 41 percent cheaper. Washington is 15 percent cheaper than Berlin.

[!Pretfles!]

about Luxemburg,

we Belgians always pass there to buy cigarettes or Fuel when we are in the neighbourhood,
its a nice place to go for a daytripp on a nice summer week-end to