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Resilience Budget: Singaporeans to enjoy 3X more cash payouts

Gov’t extends Jobs Support Scheme by seven months

Meanwhile, the cash payouts for families with young children will also be tripled from $100 to $300 for each Singaporean child.

In a bid to help Singaporeans tide over the difficult situation brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that the cash payouts unveiled during February’s Budget will now be tripled as part of the $48 billion Resilience Budget during his Parliament speech on Thursday (26 March), reported TODAY Online.

This means that adult Singaporeans will get cash payouts between $300 and $900 depending on their income, which is three times more than the $100 to $300 previously announced during his Budget 2020 speech.

“Many Singaporeans are concerned about how they will pay their bills and household expenses if their livelihoods are affected during this uncertain period. We will put more cash in the hands of all families to help them cope,” said Heng.

Meanwhile, the cash payouts for families with young children will also be tripled from $100 to $300 for each Singaporean child.

He also revealed that the $100 one-off Passion Card top-up for Singaporeans aged 50 and above will now be credited directly in their designated bank accounts to eliminate the need to queue at top-up stations.

The grocery vouchers given to lower-income Singaporeans this year will also be tripled to $300 from $100 originally.

With the enhancements, Heng noted that a young family will now enjoy about $2,900, up from $1,300 previously. A three-generation family will get about $6,700, instead of $1,800, he added.

The grant given to self-help groups that help families and vulnerable groups via their own assistant schemes will also be doubled to $20 million over two years.

The grant for Community Development Councils will also be raised to $75 million from $20 million.

He added that the government would also exercise greater flexibility on its fees and loans during this period.

It will freeze all government charges and fees effectively from 1 April to 31 March 2021.

To help graduates worried about their student loans while searching for jobs in this economic environment, the government will also suspend all interest charges and loan repayments on government loans for polytechnic and university studies from 1 June to 31 May 2021.

Late payment charges on Housing and Development Board (HDB) mortgage arrears will be suspended for three months to help homeowners who are struggling with their mortgage payments.

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“HDB will continue to exercise flexibility when providing assistance during this period, through existing measures such as deferring payment of loan instalments for six months,” said Heng.

Overall, the enhancements will cost the Singapore government around $3 billion more, higher than the $1.6 billion previously announced in February’s Budget.

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Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg