SINGAPORE – All adult Singaporeans will receive between $200 and $800 in December through the Government’s Assurance Package (AP) to help with the rising cost of living.

This will apply to Singaporeans aged 21 and above in 2024, regardless of the number of properties they own.

Within this group of about 2.9 million Singaporeans, about 2.5 million will receive an additional payment of up to $200, said the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday. This additional sum applies to Singaporeans whose assessable income for year of assessment 2022 is up to $100,000.

The cash payments are part of a suite of measures – including MediSave top-ups and Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers – in the Assurance Package, which cushions the impact of higher inflation and the goods and services tax increase for all Singaporeans.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong announced on Sept 28 an additional $1.1 billion Cost-of-Living Support Package to provide more support to Singaporean households, especially lower- to middle-income families. This includes an $800 million enhancement to the Assurance Package, which brings its total to more than $10 billion.

Among those who will receive the payouts are Mr Raimi Md Juhari, 51, and his wife, 44, who is a housewife.

The husband and wife, who live in a three-room Housing Board flat with their 10-year-old son, will get $500 and $800, respectively, in December.

Mr Raimi, who works for the emergency services, said that his monthly expenses are around $1,500, inclusive of his son’s tuition fees and monetary support for his aged parents.

He plans to set aside the cash payments for a rainy day.

While he is appreciative of the payout, he said: “Expenses are piling up... As the cost of living goes up, I wonder how our youth will be able to survive (in the future) if prices keep going up.”

Mr Walter Tan, 76, who works in an administrative role, will get $800 in December. His wife, who is 66 and an insurance agent, will get $500.

They live in a five-room HDB flat and eat out quite often, spending an average of about $600 a month on food. He noted that their spending on food has doubled in the past year because of rising prices.

“If you spread out the $800 over 12 months, it’ll be less than $100 a month... This will offset only a little of the expenses,” he said, adding that he has savings and investments to draw on to supplement his income and still live comfortably. “$100 to us is a little bit of money, but to those who have no or very low income, it means a great deal.”

Citizens can check their eligibility for the payouts by logging in at the Assurance Package official website with Singpass.

To receive their cash payments from as early as Dec 5, citizens are encouraged to link their NRIC numbers to PayNow by Sunday if they have accounts with participating banks in Singapore.

Those without PayNow-NRIC-linked bank accounts can update their bank account information with DBS Bank/POSB, OCBC Bank or UOB at the Assurance Package official website by Nov 27 to receive their payments from Dec 13.

Citizens using the GovCash service can withdraw their payments at OCBC ATMs islandwide after entering a payment reference number that will be sent to them from Dec 22, entering their NRIC number, and passing facial verification. An OCBC account is not required to withdraw the payment at OCBC ATMs.

Other than the cash payouts in December, Singaporeans will receive several other forms of support from the Government at the start of 2024.

In January, every Singaporean household will get $500 worth of CDC vouchers, which can be claimed digitally at go.gov.sg/cdcv from Jan 3, 2024. The vouchers can be claimed at any time during their validity period, and will expire at the end of 2024.

January will also see the disbursement of a 0.5- to one-month rebate of service and conservancy charges (S&CC), and U-Save rebates of between $130 and $210.

From February 2024, an AP Seniors’ Bonus of between $200 and $300 will be paid out to eligible lower-income seniors aged 55 and above.

In the same month, all Singaporeans aged 20 and below, or 55 and above, will receive $150 in their Central Provident Fund MediSave accounts.