$1.1 billion Cost-of-Living Support Package to Provide More Relief for Singaporean Households, Especially for Lower- to Middle-Income Families

1. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong announced a $1.1 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.

Inflation and Cost-of-Living Concerns

2. To help Singaporeans better cope with higher inflation and cost-of-living concerns, the Government has provided assistance through Budget and off-Budget measures since the start of last year.

3. While inflation has come down from its peak, households are still dealing with the impact of price increases in various areas. The Government will provide an additional $1.1 billion Cost-of-Living Support Package to provide relief for all Singaporean households, with more support for lower- to middle-income families. This includes a $0.8 billion enhancement to the Assurance Package (AP) bringing the AP to over $10 billion.

4. Please refer to the enhanced support measures in the Cost-of-Living Support Package in the information below.

Summary of Support Measures

Assurance Package (AP) Cash Special Payment

• Additional payment of up to $200 cash for 2.5 million eligible adult Singaporeans

• This one-off special payment will be disbursed in December 2023, together with the existing AP Cash component.

• In total, eligible adult Singaporeans will receive up to $800 cash in December 2023.

• This will provide more support to lower- and middle-income adult Singaporeans.

CDC Vouchers

• · Additional $200 of CDC Vouchers for every Singaporean household in 2024. This will bring the total amount of CDC Vouchers to $500 for every Singaporean household in 2024

• The additional CDC vouchers will be allocated equally: $100 for spending at participating heartland merchants and hawkers, and $100 for spending at participating supermarkets.

• The 2024 CDC Vouchers should be claimed digitally at go.gov.sg/cdcv from 3 January 2024 onwards. The vouchers can be claimed any time during their validity period. Those requiring further assistance can approach their nearest Community Centre/Club (CC).

• The vouchers will expire in end-2024.

Additional Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) Rebate

• Additional one-off 0.5-month of S&CC rebate for 950,000 Singaporean HDB households

• This will be disbursed in January 2024, together with the regular S&CC rebates.

• This will, on average, fully offset the S&CC increase in the first year of increases for 1- to 4-room HDB flats and about 85% for larger HDB flats.

Additional U-Save Rebates to cushion impact of increases in carbon tax and water price

• Additional $20 per quarter of U-Save rebates from January 2024 to December 2025, or a total of $80 per year for 2 years, for 950,000 Singaporean HDB households

• These rebates will be disbursed together with the regular U-Save rebates and will cushion the impact of the increases in carbon tax and water price in 2024 and 2025.

• Over 2024–2025, the additional U-Save rebates will on average fully offset the increase in utility bills for 1- to 2- room flats, about 80% for 3- to 4- room HDB flats, and about 65% for larger flats. On average, this translates to 3- to 4- room HDB flats paying about $2 more per month, and 5-room and larger HDB flats paying about $4 more per month.

Public Transport-Related Measures

Public Transport Subsidies

• Additional subsidies of about $300 million in 2024 to cover the deferred fare adjustment quantum of 15.6% that will be carried over to future fare review exercises as announced by the Public Transport Council on 18 September 2023

• This additional subsidy helps to moderate the fare increase and pay for higher costs of providing public transport services due to the continued increase in energy prices in 2022, core inflation, and strong wage growth.

Public Transport Vouchers (PTVs)

• PTVs worth $50 each for resident households with monthly household income per person of not more than $1,600

• The PTVs, which will be disbursed from end-December 2023, can be used to top up fare cards or buy Monthly Travel / Concession Passes.

Issued by:
Ministry of Finance
Singapore
28 Sep 2023

Infographics

Summary of September 2023 COL Support Package
English [PDF, 1010 KB] Chinese [PDF, 963 KB] Malay [PDF, 963 KB] Tamil [PDF, 1118 KB]

Calendar View Monthly Disbursement
English [PDF, 2813 KB] Chinese [PDF, 2846 KB] Malay [PDF, 2811 KB] Tamil [PDF, 3078 KB]

Total Disbursement (Individuals & Households)
English [PDF, 1972 KB] Chinese [PDF, 1979 KB] Malay [PDF, 1972 KB] Tamil [PDF, 2159 KB]

HDB Archetype Profiles
English [PDF, 374 KB] Chinese [PDF, 698 KB] Malay [PDF, 336 KB] Tamil [PDF, 303 KB]