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U.S. Department of State Quarterly Report Indexes of Living Costs Abroad, April 2000 Introduction | Quarters Allowances | Hardship Differentials | Technical Notes

Table 1 --Washington, D.C. = 100 --Effective April 2000: the April, July, and October reports contain only indexes for locations that changed since the previous report. The January quarterly will continue to contain indexes for all locations required to report. Country and City Survey Date Exchange Rate1 Local2 U.S. Government3 Foreign Unit Number per US$ Relative Index Relative Index Argentina: Buenos Aires 01/19/2000 Peso 1.00 145 140 125 120 Canada: Vancouver 10/31/1999 Dollar 1.45 115 117 113 115 Congo, Dem.: Kinshasa 01/24/2000 New Zaire 9.00 228 239 189 197 Cote d'Ivoire: Abidjan 11/27/1999 CFA Franc 630 128 134 109 115 Denmark: Copenhagen 12/04/1999 Kroner 7.14 150 146 127 126 Germany: Frankfurt 01/06/2000 Mark 1.88 129 125 109 107 Guinea: Conakry 02/10/2000 Franc 1780 105 113 93 100 Japan: Okinawa Prefecture/Naha 01/27/2000 Yen 100 191 192 137 139 Japan: Tokyo 01/28/2000 Yen 100 219 211 157 155 Luxembourg: Luxembourg 02/22/2000 Franc 41.2 117 117 107 107 Norway: Oslo 01/20/2000 Kroner 7.94 173 168 141 139 Paraguay: Asuncion 01/01/2000 Guarani 3316 108 111 94 97 Peru: Lima 01/21/2000 New Sol 3.49 120 126 107 112 Russia: Moscow4 02/14/2000 Ruble 28.62 136 135 121 122 1 The exchange rates shown are those used to calculate the indexes. They are usually the rates available to American citizens during the survey month. Current exchange rates may differ from the rates shown. Interim indexes adjusted for new exchange rates are not published. See Technical Notes for an explanation of how the local indexes may be adjusted for changes in exchange rates. 2 The local relative and local index measure living costs for private American citizens. The local relative is a comparison of the prices of goods and services at the foreign post and in Washington, DC, with the price ratios weighted by the pattern of expenditure in Washington, DC. Consequently, the local relative is a comparison of price levels at the post and in Washington, DC, but not necessarily a comparison of the cost of living abroad. The local index is a comparison of prices at the foreign post and in Washington, DC, with the price ratios weighted by the expenditure pattern of American employees living at the foreign post. It is, thereby, a measure of the cost of living for Americans at the foreign post compared with the cost of living in Washington, DC. This is the index most appropriate for use by business firms and other private organizations to establish cost-of-living allowances for their American employees stationed abroad. 3 The U.S. Government relative and index include prices of goods imported to the post and price advantages available only to U.S. Government employees. The U.S. Government relative is a comparison of price levels but not necessarily of living costs abroad because the expenditure weights reflect only the Washington, DC expenditure pattern. The U.S. Government index reflects Federal employee foreign expenditure patterns and is used to compute foreign post allowances for Federal employees. 4Local relative and local index comparisons include prices in hard currency or diplomatic stores. [end of document} Introduction | Quarters Allowances | Hardship Differentials | Technical Notes Quarterly Reports | Office of Allowances | Department of State | Secretary of State