2.5m Singaporean adults will get up to S$500 in December as part of new S$1.5b support package
SINGAPOREAN adults who earn below S$100,000 this year and own a maximum of one property will receive up to S$500, as part of a S$1.5 billion support package announced on Friday (Oct 14) to help offset higher costs of living for lower- to middle-income groups.
This “cost-of-living Special Payment” will reach 2.5 million eligible adult Singaporeans. It will be paid out in December, together with the Assurance Package for GST cash payout announced at Budget 2022.
Separately, an additional S$100 in Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers will be given to every Singaporean household in January 2023. This brings the total amount of CDC vouchers to be disbursed in January to S$300, including the S$200 CDC vouchers under the Assurance Package for GST announced at Budget 2022.
To allay the higher cost of public transportation, 600,000 public transport vouchers worth S$30 each will be given to resident households with monthly household income per person of not more than S$1,600.
The vouchers are part of a total S$200 million set aside, as part of the support package, to cover the recently announced 10.6-percentage-point fare increase that will be carried over to future fare review exercises.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will be raising the income eligibility criteria for its financial assistance schemes. This will take effect from Jan 1 next year for primary, secondary and pre-university students, and from the 2023 academic year (AY) for the government bursaries for post-secondary education institutions.
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The bursary quanta for full-time Institute of Technical Education students will be enhanced from AY2023. MOE is reviewing the government bursaries for diploma and undergraduate students, and will share more details when ready.
“The support measures in this package are tilted towards helping our lower-income and vulnerable groups because they are the ones who are disproportionately impacted by the effects of inflation,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong.
He noted that that as a small and open economy, it is “inevitable” that these high global prices flow through to Singapore.
“Lower-income and retiree households have (had) to spend more due to inflation. But all of that additional spending due to inflation will be offset by the government measures,” he noted.
“For middle-income households, on average, the government’s support provided will offset more than half of the inflation driven increases in cost of living this year.”
Based on the simulation of the price impact of three specific measures – utilities rebate/voucher, public transport vouchers and MediSave top-ups – it is estimated the effective inflation faced by households between January and August 2022 would have been 0.3 percentage points lower (5.4 per cent) than the actual inflation rate of 5.7 per cent.
The support package will be funded from the better-than-expected fiscal out-turn in the first half of FY2022 and there will be no draw on past reserves, said the Ministry of Finance.
To provide the support in a timely manner, the government has sought the President’s concurrence to make an advance from the Contingencies Fund. A supplementary supply bill will be introduced in Parliament to replace the advance.
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