Budget 2025: Each Singaporean household to get $800 in CDC vouchers
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The latest-announced CDC vouchers come on the heels of the $300 worth of CDC vouchers disbursed in January.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
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SINGAPORE - Some 1.3 million Singaporean households will each get $800 in CDC vouchers, with $500 to be disbursed in May and the remaining $300 in January 2026.
Households will also get up to $760 in U-Save rebates in financial year 2025 to help them cope with their utility bills, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced on Feb 18
This is double the regular amount of U-Save rebates, and will benefit more than 950,000 Singaporean families living in Housing Board flats.
Families with children will receive further support to defray expenses, as will lower-income families and individuals, PM Wong said in his Budget statement.
For each Singaporean child aged 12 and below, their family will receive $500 in LifeSG credits. Similar to the credits given to all national servicemen in 2024, they can be used at online or physical merchants that accept payment via PayNow or Nets QR.
Singaporeans aged 13 to 20 in 2025 will instead receive a $500 top-up to their Edusave account, or their post-secondary education account.
They can use this top-up to pay for approved education-related expenses.
To help households facing greater financial stress, ComCare support will be enhanced from April.
For instance, a one-person household on long-term assistance will receive $120 more each month, bringing their monthly cash assistance to $760.
Those on short- to medium-term assistance will also receive more than before, based on the household’s composition, needs and income, added PM Wong, who is also Finance Minister.
At the same time, community organisations which help households in need will be given more support by the Government, he added.
The Singapore Allowance, which some pensioners receive each month, will from April be increased from $350 to $390 to support those with smaller pensions. The monthly pension ceiling will also be raised to $1,320.
On public housing, PM Wong said the Government has ramped up its Build-To-Order (BTO) flat supply decisively. Application rates have stabilised, and are now well below the levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Over the next three years, more than 50,000 new flats
In 2024, more than eight in 10 first-timer families which collected keys to their BTO flats were able to service their monthly mortgage loans with little or zero out-of-pocket cash.
This is a level of affordability that residents in other major cities like London, Sydney and Hong Kong do not enjoy, PM Wong said, adding that the Government will continue to keep public housing affordable and accessible for all.
He noted that some Singaporeans prefer resale flats as they have shorter wait times, but are understandably concerned about the higher prices.
The cooling and supply measures will help to stabilise the resale market eventually, he said.
Meanwhile, HDB will launch around 3,800 flats with a waiting time of less than three years in 2025, which is about 20 per cent of the full year’s BTO supply.
The supply of flats will continue to be increased in the coming years, PM Wong added.
HDB also launched its largest-ever Sale of Balance Flats exercise last week, with around 5,500 flats available islandwide.
PM Wong said there are plans to hold another balance flats exercise later in 2025.
Budget 2025, titled Onward Together For A Better Tomorrow, was PM Wong’s first Budget as Prime Minister.
He said the Government had been providing greater support over the past two years to cushion the impact of rising costs on Singaporeans.
This was as global inflation rose sharply in 2022 following the outbreak of war in Ukraine, and remained high after that due to energy, food and supply chain disruptions.
The Assurance Package that was enhanced in 2024
“We will continue to provide support for as long as needed, within our means,” he said. “While inflation is expected to ease further this year, prices remain high. Singaporeans are still adjusting to these new price realities.”
The latest-announced CDC vouchers come on the heels of the $300 worth of CDC vouchers disbursed in January,
Close to 1.2 million Singaporean households,
More than $132 million was spent at participating hawker stalls, heartland merchants’ stores and supermarkets, she added then.
Chin Soo Fang is senior correspondent at The Straits Times covering topics such as community, politics, social issues, consumer, culture and heritage.
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