In light of the Covid-19 outbreak, the Singapore government has set aside another S$48 billion as part of the Supplementary Budget.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced earlier today (Mar 26) that the Supplementary budget comes in addition to the S$6.4 billion in measures that it announced just over a month ago.
Because many Singaporeans said that even with existing measures, they were worried about paying bills and managing household expenses. During his speech, DPM Heng said that the government will put more cash in the hands of all families to help them cope.
In the Supplementary Budget, the cash payout for all adult Singaporeans will be tripled from the earlier announced range of S$100 to S$300, to a range of S$300 to S$900, depending on income.
He also added that additional cash payouts given to each Singaporean parent with at least one young Singaporean child would be tripled, from S$100 to S$300.
Mr Heng also announced the tripling of Grocery Vouchers given from S$100 to S$300.
He added that together with the S$100 which will be given to them next year, needy Singaporeans will receive S$400 in Grocery Vouchers over 2020 and 2021.
All in all, Mr Heng said that with all of the enhancements, a young family will now receive around S$2,900, instead of S$1,300. Similarly, a 3-generation family will receive about S$6,700, instead of S$1,800.
This is the second time Singapore has drawn on its national reserves to fund special Budget measures, and President Halimah Yacob gave her in-principle support to draw up to S$17 billion from the country’s past reserves, to fund part of this S$48 billion “Resilience Budget”. /TISG