SG Budget 2017: S$850m in added support to defray household expenses

THE government will offer additional support of more than S$850 million to help households with their expenses, including those linked to higher water prices and higher service and conservancy charges (S&CC), said Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on Monday.

It will provide a one-off GST voucher, costing about S$280 million in all, to help lower income households with expenses.

It will spend an additional S$71 million in rebates to defray higher water expenses. The funds will go towards the GST Voucher - U-Save Rebate scheme. It is meant to offset some of the increases in water prices. Three-quarters of all HDB households will see an average increase of less than S$12 in their monthly water expenses. Households in one-room and two-room HDB flats will, on average, have no increase in their water expenses.

The government will also extend the S&CC rebate, and raise it by 0.5 months for fiscal 2017. This will cost the government S$120 million.