Singapore unveils US$802 million package to cushion pain from cost of living crisis
- The measure includes an additional payment of up to US$145 for 2.5 million adult Singaporeans to help them cope with rising utility bills
- The finance ministry said that ‘households are still dealing with the impact of price increases in various areas’ despite inflation easing
The package includes an additional payment of up to S$200 for 2.5 million adult Singaporeans, just under half of its population, to be disbursed in December.
The package, which comes on top of the additional S$1.5 billion in support announced in June, is geared towards those in the lower and middle income bands.
While price gains have generally eased, with the core inflation gauge tracked by the city state’s central bank dropping to the lowest level in 15 months, rising costs such as electricity tariffs and a proposed increase in public transport fares and water prices are set to pinch consumers.
The ministry in a statement said that while inflation had come down from its peak, “households are still dealing with the impact of price increases in various areas”.
Economists are generally expecting the central bank to keep monetary policy settings unchanged in a scheduled review next month, on a weak growth outlook and still-elevated but easing inflation.
