Speech by Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for Finance, at the Launch of The CDC Vouchers Scheme 2022 on Wednesday, 11 May 2022, at Tampines West Community Club

Mayors Low Yen Ling, Denise, Desmond, Alex and Fahmi

Mr Yeo Hiang Meng, President Federation of Merchants Associations 

Mr Kwek Theng Swee, Chairman, Heartland Enterprise Centre  

Community partners, residents, ladies and gentlemen  

1. I am very happy to join all of you today for the launch of our 2022 CDC Vouchers Scheme. Indeed it is so good to see all of you gathered together, to feel the atmosphere and the spirit at this venue. It is not the same when we do it on Zoom even if you have the same number of people. When we are gathered together, the atmosphere is different – you can interact with one another. Later, we will even listen to people perform and sing. I am glad that we are all able to come together today.

2. We introduced the digital CDC Vouchers in 2021. We wanted to do this to help families through the pandemic, and also to support all our heartland shops and hawkers

a. It was the first time that we had introduced a digital voucher scheme.

b. The original idea for a CDC Voucher had started earlier, two years ago. In fact, it was mooted by DPM Heng at that time, and we subsequently discussed with the Mayors to implement it. Then we decided to move from paper vouchers to digital ones. This was not an easy process; we had to work through a lot of details.

c. So I want to thank all our Mayors, CDCs and PA, merchant associations, local merchants and hawkers, and everyone of you here – our community partners for your hard work, effort, and close attention to the implementation details.

d. Because of your hard work, the CDC Voucher scheme has been a resounding success. Thank you everyone once again.

3. When we originally conceived the digital voucher scheme, we were very mindful of the risks and the fact that there were many things that could go wrong. In particular, we were concerned about those who are less digitally savvy especially seniors, and wanted to ensure they could access the vouchers.

a. So we made a special effort with our Silver Generation Ambassadors and grassroots leaders. We went out to engage our seniors to help them access the vouchers. We also had a back-up plan: if you still did not know how to access them, you could go to the Community Clubs and Centres and physical vouchers would be available.

b. The other concern was our heartland shops, merchants and hawkers. We wanted them to benefit too, and so we made a special effort to reach out to them so that they would come on board and benefit from the vouchers.

c. Overall, based on all the experiences we have had so far, I am very glad that it has been positive, and we have received a lot of encouraging feedback. Up to now, as far as the seniors are concerned, many of them are able to use the vouchers digitally. I spoke to many of my residents, they are using the digital vouchers rather than the physical ones. 

d. At home, my mother who is 82 years old took a long time to learn how to use a smart phone and Whatsapp – I had to teach her how use those functions to keep in touch. When I asked her, “How about about using the CDC vouchers?” – I had forgotten to teach her so I asked her if I needed to teach her how to redeem them – she said there was no need as she already knows how to redeem the vouchers because her friends had taught her! 

e. Many seniors are already learning how to use the digital CDC Vouchers. Likewise, many businesses, merchants and hawkers I see everywhere in Singapore have also started to use the vouchers and many have said that the user interface is convenient and seamless. Importantly, you get the money faster compared to the physical vouchers, so the merchants also find them useful.

4. There are some early indicators of success – so far, in less than 5 months, more than 1.1 million households or 93% of all Singaporeans households have claimed their vouchers. I hope the remaining 7% claim the vouchers soon, but 93% is quite good. In fact it is already comparable to the previous experiences when they gave out physical vouchers by mail. It is not 100% as not everyone opened their letterboxes to take the vouchers and use them. But now, 93% is quite good.

a. Utilisation of the vouchers have also been very positive – meaning they have been claimed, but they have not been used it yet. The actual usage of the vouchers over these five months is close to $85 million, which is about 70% of the total amount of vouchers allocated.

b. And of course, the utilisation continues to increase day by day. I know a lot of people have already claimed their vouchers, but they have not used up the whole $100. Like me, I have only used up $4, and I have still got $96 remaining. Hopefully, more people will start to redeem their vouchers.

5. Because of the success of CDC Vouchers, when I was working on Budget 2022 this year, I decided to do more with the CDC Vouchers

a. Over the next 2 years, we will give out another $500 more in CDC Vouchers to every Singaporean household – $100 this year; $200 in 2023; and another $200 in 2024. All together $500 more. 

b. For this year’s voucher, our original plan was to implement only later in the second half of the year, after the earlier tranche of digital vouchers had been fully utilised.

c. But I recognise that many Singaporeans are concerned about their daily expenses and the impact of rising prices due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

d. So I decided to bring forward the launch of the 2022 CDC Vouchers this year.

6. That means from today onwards, every Singaporean household will receive another $100 worth of CDC Vouchers.

a. You can claim the vouchers digitally in the same way as the last round, visit the  website (go.gov.sg/cdcv) and login with Singpass to claim them. You can do it in your own time. From today onwards you can start to claim the vouchers.

b. Please use the vouchers, redeem them to support our hawkers and heartland shops in your community. You can check the CDC Vouchers Merchants Go Where website, which lists all the participating shops. You can search for them – find a shop or merchant near your home and use the vouchers.

c. Of course, as per the last round, for those who need help, you can always go to the nearby Community Centres and Clubs and they will help you if you need the physical vouchers. 

7. Once again, I encourage everyone to make full use of these vouchers

a. If you are amongst the 7% who have not even claimed the first tranche of the vouchers, please do so, there is no need to wait anymore. There is another round coming, so you might as well claim the first one. Or if you are like me, you have already claimed but not fully utilised the first tranche of the $100 vouchers yet, you should try to spend it as soon as you can and help support our local shops and merchants too.

b. Furthermore, from today onwards, you can start to claim and redeem this second tranche of $100 in CDC Vouchers anytime.

c. Remember there will be further tranches of CDC Vouchers worth $200 each coming up in 2023 and 2024 – for these subsequent tranches we are planning for these to be used not just at participating heartland merchants and hawkers, but also major supermarkets. That is for the subsequent ones, but for the earlier tranche and this tranche, it will be for the heartland shops and hawkers only.

d. We are still working out the timing for the vouchers for the next tranche, but for now, we can expect the next one in 2023 to be implemented early next year.  Like I said, if you have not used your vouchers yet, whether the last tranche or you have the upcoming tranche, please make full use of them because there will be another round coming up very soon - $200 more in early 2023.

8. The CDC Vouchers are a small, but I hope, meaningful gesture of support for Singaporeans in this time of rising prices.

a. We are providing other forms of assistance too.

b. For example we have given out S&CC as well as U-save rebates. The first round was disbursed last month, and another three rounds will be disbursed every quarter, in July and October this year, and in January next year.

c. For the whole of FY2022, to give an illustration, for those living in 4-room HDB flats, they will receive rebates worth about four months of their utility bills, basically four months is paid for by the Government, and two and a half months of their S&CC. There are additional help being rolled out for Singaporeans on top of the CDC Vouchers.

9. I want to assure Singaporeans that Government will always be here for you; to help you to help cope with rising prices and inflation. We are not the only country facing this problem – prices have been increasing worldwide, because of the Ukraine war, and also the continued shipping and supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic. Even countries that are oil and gas exporters are facing higher prices, let alone a small and open economy like Singapore that imports almost everything we consume.

10. So we do have to brace ourselves for higher prices for some time. But rest assured that the Government will continue to do our utmost to help cushion the impact for Singaporeans, especially for our lower- and middle-income families. In particular, we will continue to monitor the global situation, and will not hesitate to take further action to help households and businesses if the situation worsens. We are rolling out all that we have announced and we will continue to monitor the situation.

11. I know this is a difficult time for everyone. The pandemic is still not over; yes, we have relaxed our measures, but Covid-19 is still not over and already we are facing yet another crisis – because of the global economic slowdown and higher inflation. But we have nothing to fear. The last 2 years have shown that we will always prevail and we will always overcome, no matter what challenges we face, so long as we continue to keep faith with each other, and stand side by side in solidarity with each another  

12. That is the same spirit of partnership that I see today amongst everyone gathered here at this venue – our Mayors, CDCs, the Merchant Associations, heartland enterprises and hawkers, PA and all the different Government Agencies and so many other stakeholders. Thank you all for making the CDC Vouchers a success and for working so hard to bring forward this year’s CDC Vouchers Scheme to benefit Singaporean households and businesses.

13. Let’s continue to stay united and resilient as we grapple and tackle the challenges ahead of us, and keep moving forward as a nation.  

14. Thank you, now let me say a few words in Mandarin.

大家下午好！非常高兴来到淡滨尼，宣布政府将从今天开始，发放另一轮的社理会邻里购物券。

新加坡和其他国家一样，现在都面对物价上涨的挑战。政府也了解最近物价上涨带来的担忧，所以我们决定提前派发这一轮的购物券，希望帮助国人应付生活费上涨的压力。

从今天开始，每户新加坡家庭将可获得100元的邻里购物券。和之前一样，大家可以用手机来领取和使用购物券。 我相信大家，包括我们的年长居民，应该已经很熟悉怎么使用。那些还不熟悉的居民也不用担心，你们可以到附近的联络所，那里会有工作人员，帮助你们。

接下来，政府将继续派发更多的邻里购物券，协助大家应付日常开销。今天的购物券不是最后一次（派发），接下来还有。每户家庭将分别在明年和后年，再获得200元的购物券。我鼓励大家多多利用这些购物券，带动邻里的商气和活力。

我也非常感谢邻里商家和小贩，对这个计划的支持。这个计划自推出以来，反应非常热烈，不少商家也从中获益。所以我鼓励那些还没参与计划的商家和小贩，尽快加入，不要错过这个机会。因为接下来政府还会派发更多的购物券，如果你没有加入，就会错过这个机会了。

以大环境来说，新加坡正在面临两大挑战：一个是冠病疫情，虽然我们放松了措施，疫情还没有结束，所以我们还需要保持警惕；另一个是经济方面的挑，包括经济出现停滞性通胀的风险。但是，过去两年的经验告诉我们，只要我们保持团结，一定可以渡过所有的难关，一定可以克服所有的困难。让我们继续团结一致，同心协力，克服眼前的挑战，建设更美好的明天。谢谢你们。