The most recent ‘Worldwide Cost of Living Report’ carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has ranked London as the 15th most expensive city in the world.

Rising costs and a stronger pound are to blame along with ‘sin-taxes’ on alcohol and cigarettes, where increases in prices as high as 50% have been recorded in the last five years.

The price of a loaf of bread has almost tripled in the same five-year period, with a 1kg loaf costing £1.44 on average, compared to 55p in 2006.

Jon Copestake, economist at the EIU, said: “Normally, with the economic downturn and austerity measures in place, weak consumer demand will dampen price movement. However, we are still seeing inflation from rising commodity prices and other measures like increased VAT feeding through into the shopping basket of consumers.”

The survey examined 400 individual prices in 140 cities across 93 countries and ranked Tokyo, Japan as the most expensive city to live in and Karachi, Pakistan as the cheapest.