Luanda is the capital of Angola (a country) which is on the west coast of Africa. Then it might surprise you that it is the most expensive country in the whole entire world. When I read about it I thought the exact same thing you did: How? Because this is what some parts of Luanda look like:
But then again, there are more pleasant parts like this:
This article explains why Luanda is so expensive (yes, beating Paris, Copenhagen, Moscow, Geneva and Basel). But if you don't have time to read the whole article...this is the short version:
There is a high concentration of expatriates from the USA and other countries in Europe, these expatriates pay for very expensive imported goods from their own countries. And all of this spending inflates the cost of living in Luanda. These findings are used by multinational companies to calculate allowances paid to officials abroad. Interesting, huh?
Now, I don't know how that affects the local citizens, I'm sure they also pay more than they should for certain products. To my consolation, at least, the article does say that the cost of living in these studies are calculated using products and services that expatriates use and pay for. But on the other hand it also makes you wonder what kinds of things we (from the western world) have to have that we are willing to pay so much for them. I'm not criticizing, I'm just calling to attention the fact that we can live with less than we are willing to admit or accept.