Subsidy for hawkers to adopt digital payments extended to end-2025
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The Straits Times reported in October 2023 that over 11,000 hawkers had taken up the subsidies.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE – More than 11,500 hawkers have adopted cashless payments so far, with a government subsidy to encourage them to do so extended until the end of 2025.
The subsidy, under the Hawkers Go Digital programme, waives the 0.5 per cent transaction fee that stallholders must pay for each digital transaction, for the first $20,000 worth of such transactions per stall each month.
These payments are made via QR code, under the Singapore Quick Response Code platform.
Introduced by Enterprise Singapore and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) in 2018, the initiative aims to get about 18,000 stallholders in government-run food centres, such as those operated by the National Environment Agency and the Housing Board, to adopt digital payments before subsidies are lifted.
The Straits Times reported in October 2023 that more than 11,000 hawkers had taken up the subsidies
The scheme was to have ended on Dec 31, 2023, after a three-year extension. But in October 2023, it was announced that the end date would be pushed back to end-2024.
Referring to the latest extension, Enterprise SG and IMDA said in a joint statement on Oct 10: “Following feedback from hawkers, this extension aims to encourage F&B stallholders to continue adopting e-payments and ease into a non-subsidised payment structure, especially against the backdrop of rising operating costs in the current environment.”
Both the monthly transaction value and volume of these e-payments have increased compared with a year ago, the statement added.
In August 2024, the monthly transaction value reached $60 million, an increase from $45 million in August 2023. And the monthly transaction volume rose from 5.4 million in August 2023 to 7.6 million in August 2024.
Ms Low Yen Ling, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and Culture, Community and Youth, said the scheme is part of “our ongoing efforts to ensure our hawkers continue to thrive in the digital age”.
