GST vouchers, targeted support more effective than giving all S'poreans 21 & above CDC vouchers: Chee Hong Tat

The minister also highlighted other support measures for Singaporeans apart from CDC vouchers.

Matthias Ang | October 03, 2022, 03:17 PM

There are other financial support measures besides S$100 Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers to help Singaporeans deal with the costs of rising inflation, Senior Minister of State for Finance Chee Hong Tat said in Parliament on Oct. 3.

He was responding to Member of Parliament Ang Wei Neng, who asked if the vouchers could be granted to every Singaporean above 21 years old, instead of to each household.

Targeted measures more effective than giving everyone vouchers

Ang asked whether the government would consider giving more CDC vouchers to bigger households, as well as vouchers to individuals.

Chee said that the measures being rolled out to help Singaporeans include those announced during Budget 2022 and in June, when the launch of another S$1.5 billion support package was also announced.

Chee said besides the CDC vouchers, there are other schemes to help Singaporeans to cushion the impact of rising prices, such as additional U-Save rebates, household utilities credit, Edusave and child development account top ups, and also public transport vouchers.

In addition, GST voucher cash payments of up to S$300 were given to eligible Singaporeans aged 21 years and above, as an example of individual, not household support.

"And these are targeted to provide more assistance to lower income Singaporeans, which I think it's a better and more effective way compared to giving everybody S$100 of CDC vouchers regardless of their wealth and income levels.

Because we know given limited resources, it is correct to channel more funding to help our low income and vulnerable Singaporeans because they are more affected by rising prices."

The government is also closely monitoring the situation and will consider if some of the measures should be brought forward, or more assistance should be implemented, the senior minister of state said.

S$180 million used

In his speech, Chee also revealed that Singaporean households have utilised about 80 per cent of the total Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers available to them, or S$180 million.

On Feb. 18 this year, Finance Minister Lawrence announced that all Singaporean households will receive two more tranches of S$200 Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers which will be disbursed in 2023 and 2024.

The announcement was made as part of a larger S$6.6 billion Assurance Package.

97 per cent of December 2021 vouchers claimed, 87 per cent of May 2022 vouchers claimed

With regard to the earlier CDC vouchers distributed, Chee said that as of September 2022, 97 per cent of Singaporean households have claimed their vouchers from the December 2021 distribution, while 87 per cent of them have done so for the May 2022 distribution.

The value of the vouchers distributed during these two periods was S$100.

Chee pointed out further that these vouchers can be used at over 18,000 hawkers and merchants until the end of 2022.

There are other support measures apart from CDC vouchers

Chee also pointed towards the presence of other support measures provided by the government apart from the CDC vouchers to help Singaporeans cope with inflation.

In highlighting that the focus of the support was on lower-income groups, Chee said that for this financial year, a low-income couple with two young children living in a three-room HDB flat can expect to receive about S$3,700 in support.

This includes cash, top-ups for education, utilities and Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) rebates.

Top screenshot via MCI YouTube