Tel Aviv beach and promenade, July 30, 2012. Photo: Israel Tourism Bureau via Wikimedia Commons.R

JNS.org – Tel Aviv has been ranked the 10th most expensive city in the world, surging up the list by 18 slots in just five years, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s yearly “Worldwide Cost of Living survey.”

The flourishing Mediterranean seaside city tied with Los Angeles.

Ranking cities based on price comparisons across 160 products and services, the report found that average prices have risen, and that the cost of purchasing insuring and maintaining a car cost 64 percent more than in New York.

The report found that the average price of a 1 kilogram loaf of bread in Tel Aviv has risen from $4.16 to $5.09 in the past 10 years, a women’s hairdo has risen from $83.57 to $93.59, and a two-piece business suit has soared from $1,124.33 to $1,940.58

The most expensive city in the world was a three-way tie between Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Between the top three and Tel Aviv were listed Zurich, Geneva and Osaka (tied), Seoul, Copenhagen and New York (tied).

Caracas in Venezuela, Damascus in Syria and Tashkent in Uzbekistan were rated the three cheapest cities in the world.

Caracas has suffered nearly a million percent inflation since the establishment of a new currency in an attempt to thwart hyperinflation last year amid the economic and political turmoil throughout Venezuela.