Exchange rates and buying power

[Gerhard Gerber]

Over the long weekend we were discussing music, particularly where we find new music, and my friend made a statement that anybody in Sub-Saharan Africa should try to get for free whatever you can get for free.....

To be clear, I share this opinion.

For those operating at the wrong end of an exchange rate, please share you currency's worth against the Dollar and the Euro.

Also share the price you can expect to pay for a bog standard Spyderco Endura

[Don Pablo]

Do we not also have to factor in # of hours of work required for "X" amount of currency, where X is the amount of currency required to buy a Spyderco Endura?

[Gerhard Gerber]

I need to pay:

N$15.98 for 1 Euro
N$14.34 for 1 US $

Spyderco Endura......about N$1800

[Gerhard Gerber]

Do we not also have to factor in # of hours of work required for "X" amount of currency, where X is the amount of currency required to buy a Spyderco Endura?

No, because then I'll start crying 

Saw a video about working conditions in Italy this weekend......I was stunned.

[Don Pablo]

"Ireland's minimum wage is €9.15 per hour (with exceptions for young, inexperienced people)".
That's N$146.86, or US$10.21.
A Spyderco Endura is €118, or N$1900, or $132 at Heinnies UK.

That's 12 hours and 53 minutes of working in Ireland for minimum wage to earn enough €€€ for it.

[Don Pablo]

Wait. Amazon UK has the Endura 4 for €94.
That's N$1,500, or $105.
That's about 10 hours, 16 minutes of work.
They don't ship here though, which means paying extra for a third party forwarder.

[Gerhard Gerber]

Not sure what our minimum wage is, but currently I earn about N$154/hour.

20+ years in IT and I earn just above Irish minimum wage 

[Don Pablo]

Not sure what our minimum wage is, but currently I earn about N$154/hour.

20+ years in IT and I earn just above Irish minimum wage 

Probably our cost of living is higher:
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Ireland&displayCurrency=NAD

[Don Pablo]

I mean, a beer here is N$80.
So we're not exactly rich when you compare our prices and our minimum wage like that.

[Gerhard Gerber]

Probably our cost of living is higher:
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Ireland&displayCurrency=NAD

That is quite interesting.

Living costs in South Africa are considerably lower than Namibia, rent being the worst, but much of the rest we consume come from SA anyway, so import duties and transport inflate prices.

[Gerhard Gerber]

I mean, a beer here is N$80.
So we're not exactly rich when you compare our prices and our minimum wage like that.

N$80 buys me a 6-pack, but.....

At age 43 my medical aid costs N$4800 per month, and for any speSmurfpillst there will be a co-payment.

State hospitals are nasty, dirty butcheries with long queues......

State pension is N$1200 per month. 

[Don Pablo]

Oof, that sounds rough.

I've been going to public hospitals here all my (short) life. They're pretty decent.

And free if you have a medical card, which you are pretty much assured of being able to get if you can't afford the treatment.

And if you can "afford" it, and thus don't have a medical card....

Well, let me tell you a story.
Someone I know had a bit of an eye injury. Which required micro stitches to the cornea and a stay at The Eye Hospital in the capital. 
The bills? €250, or 4000 N$ for the stay in the hospital. The surgery was free.
Sure, it could be cheaper. But that's the cost here without insurance. I guess our taxes are doing something useful.

[Gerhard Gerber]

The last serious medical treatment I had was two years ago, two procedures a few days apart and the total bill was north of N$40000.

My co-payment for every visit to the speSmurfpillst was N$250, IIRC 6 visits total.

No I have to add the surgeon is extremely capable and regularly travels internationally to learn new techniques and study under the best in the world, and he does that while earning N$.

I guess our taxes are doing something useful.

We have about 1 public servant for every 3 tax payers, a huge and corrupt defense force but no war, no threats to the country.

These "public servants" pay on average N$200 per month for medical aid with benefits nobody else can afford.

Namibia is bankrupt, but still one of the better-run countries in Africa.....

[Don Pablo]

Corruption really ruins it for everyone else....

[Gerhard Gerber]

Nobody else playing?

Does that mean most here earn USD or Euro? 

[RF52]

Over her in Sweden 100 SEK is about 10 USD and 100 SEK is about 9 EUR

Spyderco Endura is 1100 SEK - 115 USD - 103 EUR

Sent fra min FRD-L09 via Tapatalk

[pomsbz]

Being British but not living there the weak pound is very friendly for buying stuff from the UK to be sent out here.  Not that it makes stuff cheaper particularly but it does create a parity in pricing that we've never known before.

[lister]

Nobody else playing?

Does that mean most here earn USD or Euro? 

Well, EU has 0.5 billion people and USA another 0.3 billion, so together we make about 1/10 of global population. If you add the fact that this is English forum and that gadgets make for an expensive hobby it would not surprise me if we are the majority of users of this forum... 

[Vidar]

Comparing countries and purchasing power tends to end up in a deep rabbit hole.

One index though, which I suspect started out as a funny one, has over time proven to be an fairly accurate indicator: The BigMac indicator. McDonalds are in most countries by now, and their local prices for a BigMac tend to reflect purchasing power just as well as way more complicated statistics. Kind of interesting. https://www.statista.com/statistics/274326/big-mac-index-global-prices-for-a-big-mac/

 

[RF52]

That was interesting Vidar, never heard of it before. But for "normal" people it would be a good and simple indicator

Sent fra min FRD-L09 via Tapatalk

[Vidar]

That was interesting Vidar, never heard of it before. But for "normal" people it would be a good and simple indicator

Sent fra min FRD-L09 via Tapatalk

This is the link to the authors themselves.
 
https://www.economist.com/news/2019/01/10/the-big-mac-index

(I have no idea whether it is true, but I was once told that it is better at predicting currency developments than most professional currency traders).

[RF52]

Thanks for sharing Cool way to compare currency value

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[Gerhard Gerber]

Well, EU has 0.5 billion people and USA another 0.3 billion, so together we make about 1/10 of global population. If you add the fact that this is English forum and that gadgets make for an expensive hobby it would not surprise me if we are the majority of users of this forum... 

Sure enough, but the Canadian $ is a bit weaker.......does that influence the Canadians on the forum at all?

And not all EU countries are created equal.......
 

.....and I just realized the fact that this is an English language forum makes this a pretty weak place to ask the question