SINGAPORE, Sept 28 — Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong has announced a S$1.1 billion (RM3.77 billion) Cost-of-Living Support Package to provide more relief for Singaporean households, especially lower- to middle-income families.
“This builds on the measures announced at Budget 2023,” said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in a statement today.
MOF said the government has assisted with budget and off-budget measures since the start of last year, which aims at helping Singaporeans to better cope with higher inflation and cost-of-living concerns.
“While inflation has come down from its peak, households are still dealing with the impact of price increases in various areas,” it said.
The ministry said the S$1.1 billion Cost-of-Living Support Package will include a S$0.8 billion (RM2.74 billion) enhancement to the Assurance Package, bringing the total to over S$10 billion (RM34.3 billion).
The package would see an additional payment of up to S$200 (RM686) in cash for 2.5 million eligible adult Singaporeans.
“In total, eligible adult Singaporeans will receive up to S$800 (RM2,744) in cash in December 2023,” said the ministry.
The republic also announced public transport-related measures to see an additional subsidy of about S$300 million (RM1.02 billion) in 2024.
“This additional subsidy helps to moderate the fare increase and pay for the higher cost of providing public transport services due to the continued increase in energy prices in 2022, core inflation, and strong wage growth,” it said.
— Bernama
