Eligible adult S'poreans to get up to S$500 cash, as part of S$1.5b package to help households amid rising living cost

SINGAPORE — About 2.5 million individuals will receive up to S$500 in cash as part of a new S$1.5 billion support package to help Singaporeans cope with persistent inflation.

In a press release on Friday (Oct 14), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said that the payouts will be disbursed in December this year to people who have an assessable income of S$100,000 and below for the Year of Assessment 2022.

• For people who have an assessable income of S$22,000 and below, they will receive S$500
• For people who have an assessable income of more than S$22,000 to S$34,000, they will get S$400
• For those who have an assessable income of more than S$34,000 to S$100,000, they will receive S$300

To be eligible for the payout, individuals should also not own more than one property.

The cash will be disbursed along with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) cash payouts announced at the Budget earlier this year.

Other measures in the latest support package include:

• A S$100 Community Development Council voucher for every Singaporean household in January next year, on top of the S$200 vouchers issued during this year's Budget
• An added transport subsidy of about S$200 million next year to cover the impending 10.6 per cent hike in public transport fares, which the Public Transport Council said would be rolled over to future fare reviews
• Some 600,000 public transport vouchers worth S$30 for each resident household with a monthly household income per person of not more than S$1,600
• The raising of the income eligibility thresholds and enhancements to bursary sums for full-time students at the Institute of Technical Education for the 2023 academic year

MOF said that it was rolling out the package to provide relief from the higher cost of living for all Singaporeans, with more support given to the lower- and middle-income groups. 

The new support package, along with the earlier rounds of support measures rolled out this year, will:

• Fully cover the increase in cost of living for lower-income households on average this year
• Cover more than half of the increase in cost of living for middle-income households on average this year

The ministry noted that since measures were introduced at the Budget earlier this year to help cushion the impact of rising prices for Singaporeans, inflation has picked up further globally. 

Although supply chain frictions have eased slightly, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine continues to put pressure on commodity prices.

"As a small, open economy, Singapore is particularly susceptible to imported price pressures through channels such as food and energy. Domestically, a tight labour market continues to support strong wage growth." 

It added that Singapore must be prepared for inflation to stay elevated for some time.  

For the latest support package, the ministry said that there will be no drawdown on past reserves and that it will be funded from the "better-than-expected" fiscal out-turn in the first half of this year.