FairPrice to give 5% off basic food items on Fridays from March 4

The public can get a 5 per cent discount for 100 daily staples such as rice, oil and vegetables every Friday at all FairPrice supermarkets and hypermarkets, from March 4 until the year end.

This is part of FairPrice Group's Stretch Your Dollar programme, which is aimed at helping consumers cope with the rising cost of living amid the Covid-19 pandemic and inflationary factors such as logistic logjams and higher oil prices.

Yesterday, the programme also reduced the prices of "hot low sugar", "no sugar" and "no milk" coffee and tea to 90 cents at more than 80 Kopitiam and NTUC Foodfare outlets. This will also be in place until the year end.

Kopitiam and Foodfare have pledged to hold prices for other variations of hot coffee and tea, as well as their breakfast sets, until the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Kopitiam's Rice Garden budget meal programme for the needy, seniors and union members will be expanded to a targeted 40 stalls by the year end.

Rice Garden is an economy rice stall brand with 19 stalls providing subsidised meals of one meat and two vegetable dishes to ComCare card holders at less than $1.80.

The Stretch Your Dollar campaign first ran in 2007 to 2008 during the financial crisis and was brought back from 2010 to 2011 as an economic downturn loomed.

Mr Seah Kian Peng, group chief executive of FairPrice Group, said that it aims to moderate the cost of living despite increased cost pressures and disrupted supply chains. "We share our consumers' concerns over the cost of living and how the Covid-19 situation has affected lives and livelihoods," he said.

"We have developed this programme and introduced new initiatives at our supermarkets, foodcourts and coffee shops that will help the community stretch their dollar further on essential needs."

Existing discount schemes at FairPrice supermarkets and hypermarkets for the Pioneer Generation, Merdeka Generation, seniors and Community Health Assist Scheme Blue card holders between Monday and Thursday will remain.

Savings from all the discount schemes, including the new Friday 5 per cent discount, are projected to exceed $12 million this year.

The group will also be launching a programme to provide free meals for the needy and a budget meal initiative at its Kopitiam and Foodfare outlets in the second half of the year, with details to be announced later.