cost of living in Latin American cities

According to a Mercer survey, quoted by Latin Business Chronicle of July 2009,

Caracas has replaced Sao Paulo as the most expensive city in Latin America for foreign executives. Caracas is now more expensive than cities like London and Helsinki.

The survey looks at the comparative cost of over 200 items, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment in 143 cities worldwide, including 16 in Latin America.

Other cities that became more expensive since the last year survey include Buenos Aires, Panama City, Santo Domingo and Quito.

Monterrey in Mexico has replaced Paraguay's capital Asuncion as the least expensive city in Latin America.
Cities that became less expensive include Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Guatemala City, Bogota, Lima, Santiago, Montevideo, San Jose, Mexico City, Asuncion and Monterrey.

Here is the list of Latin American cities with their world ranking in terms of cost of living:

World Rank - City

15 -Caracas, Venezuela
72 -Sao Paulo, Brazil
73 -Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
93-Panama City, Panama
104-Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep.
112-Buenos Aires, Argentina
119-Guatemala City, Guatemala
120-Bogota, Colombia
122-Lima, Peru
128-Santiago, Chile
131-Montevideo, Uruguay
132-San Jose, Costa Rica
136-Quito, Ecuador
137- Mexico City, Mexico
141-Asuncion, Paraguay
143-Monterrey, Mexico