Singaporean households can now redeem S$300 CDC vouchers

EVERY Singaporean household can now claim S$300 in Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers for their daily expenses.

They can be claimed online at go.gov.sg/cdcv, and will be split equally for spending at participating hawkers and heartland merchants, and supermarkets.

The last tranche of CDC vouchers worth S$500 was launched by then deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong on Jan 3, 2024. It provided households with S$200 more help than the previous tranche in 2023.

The S$500 given out in January 2024, together with the S$300 in June, means that each Singaporean household will get a total of S$800 in 2024. This is the first time two tranches of CDC vouchers have been given out in the same calendar year.

Wong, who is also finance minister, announced at Budget 2024 in February that Singaporeans will get a mix of cash, vouchers and rebates under a S$1.9 billion boost to the Assurance Package to help with cost-of-living concerns and an uncertain economic outlook.

Among the enhancements were an additional S$600 in CDC vouchers – the first S$300 to be disbursed end-June in 2024, and the remaining to be disbursed in January 2025.

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Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who launched this tranche of the CDC vouchers scheme on Tuesday (Jun 25), said the total support provided in the Assurance Package is over S$10 billion.

Each household would have received S$1,300 worth of CDC vouchers in total to date.

Inflation still high

He added that about 1.3 million households have claimed the CDC vouchers disbursed in January 2024. Of the claimed vouchers, more than S$500 million has been spent at participating heartland merchants, hawkers and supermarkets. All in all, Singaporean households have used more than S$1 billion of CDC vouchers across the four tranches.

The CDC vouchers scheme was first introduced in June 2020 during the pandemic to help lower-income households defray their daily expenses, while supporting local merchants and hawkers affected by the pandemic. It was expanded to all households in December 2021 to thank Singaporeans for their solidarity during the pandemic, and to support heartland businesses as they emerged from the pandemic.

Even after the pandemic, as inflation continued to stay high as a result of persistent supply chain constraints and the war in Ukraine, many Singaporeans continued to be concerned about their daily expenses and the impact of rising prices, Gan said, explaining why the government decided to continue with the scheme and enhance the level of support given.

The current fifth tranche of the vouchers has about 23,000 participating hawkers and heartland merchants on board. Participating hawkers and heartland merchants may benefit from a total possible spend of about S$194 million in CDC vouchers (June) by households.

In addition, there are eight participating supermarkets comprising 415 outlets islandwide. Residents can search for participating hawkers, heartland merchants and supermarkets at go.gov.sg/cdcvouchers.

Since January 2024, Singaporean households have used over S$273 million of CDC vouchers for supermarket purchases, said chairman of the Mayors’ Committee Low Yen Ling.

Low said more than 1.27 million Singaporean households, or 97 per cent of the total number of Singaporean households, have claimed their vouchers.

Out of the S$511 million spent, 47 per cent or S$238 million was spent at participating hawkers and heartland merchants. Of this, S$140 million was spent on food and beverages, S$28 million at minimarts and provision shops and S$69 million on other trades and services.

Some 86 per cent of the claimed vouchers thus far for 2024 were spent on F&B and groceries. This shows that the vouchers have achieved the policy intent of supporting Singaporeans in defraying their household expenses, Low said.

How to claim your CDC vouchers

From Tuesday, Singaporean households will receive a notification letter via mail on how to claim and spend their S$300 CDC vouchers for June 2024.

Upon claiming, the applicant will receive an SMS with their unique voucher link from “RedeemSG” (before Jul 1) or “gov.sg” (from Jul 1 onwards), which can then be shared with other household members. The SMS links for CDC vouchers 2024 (January) and CDC vouchers 2024 (June) are different, and both sets of vouchers are valid until Dec 31, 2024. THE STRAITS TIMES