PM Lawrence Wong at the Launch of the SG60 Baby Gift Distribution

Dear Grassroots Leaders, Residents and friends,

Good morning,

Kālai Vaṇakkam,

Selamat Pagi, dan Selamat Hari Raya to our Muslim friends,

各位居民朋友们, 大家早上好 。

I am very happy to join all of you today for this event, we are celebrating or we are marking SG60 this year, Singapore's 60th year of independence. So, we also want to do something for all the babies that are born this year, SG60 babies. I think there are a few of them here; these ones in front probably do not qualify, you all look too old. But I think there are some families here with SG60 babies, let us give them a big round of applause to welcome them to our Singapore family.

Because it is a special year, we have a special SG60 Gift for all the SG60 babies this year. They will have 10 items; we have curated them from some local companies and brands, so we hope the gift will remind all our babies and the parents of how unique Singapore is and the hopes we all have for our shared future here in Singapore. Of course, the Government will do more than just providing a SG60 Gift for babies this year. We want to do everything we can to support families in Singapore. We know that there are a lot of concerns – parents want to have more children, but they often tell us that cost is a concern for all of you. That is why in this year's budget, we have done more to help parents. We have many measures to help families reduce your costs. We have more CDC vouchers; $800 more in CDC vouchers for every household. The next tranche of $500, we start with $500 of the $800, so $500 more CDC vouchers will be coming in May next month. Good news, right?

That is CDC vouchers, but this year because it is SG60, every adult Singaporean 21 years and above will get SG60 vouchers. That is $600 per person, but if you are 60 years and above, you get another $200 so that is $800. So, it is either $600 or $800 per person, that is coming in July. And then you say, what about children? So, we are also giving out something for children. If you have children between the ages of zero to 12, we are giving LifeSG credits per child. LifeSG credits are like NS credits, the NS men will know, it is like cash; you can use it as a wallet, you can buy whatever you need in the supermarket or in your grocery stores and all that. So, this is $500 per child from zero to 12. So, imagine if you are a young couple, husband and wife, you have $600, $600, the household gets $800 that is $2,000. If you have two kids, $500, $500 that is another $1,000. So altogether it is $3,000, it is not small amount. We hope this will go some way in helping all of you reduce your cost.

Some say that this is just once off, this year's budget. Yes, this is only in this year's budget, but we will continue to provide help for as long as it is needed. So, while we provide for this in this year's budget, in subsequent years, if cost pressures are still very high, then certainly we will continue to provide assistance. And some of the measures we have in this year's budget goes beyond just one year. In fact, some of the measures go for quite some time and for multiple years, in particular in this year's budget, we have something called a Large Families Scheme. This applies if you have a third child or more. Anyone here, third child or more? Have right? Okay, but your children must be small, between the years of one to six years old. And if you have a third child or more, young children between the years of one to six, they get $1,000 in LifeSG credits for every third child or more in the years that they are between one to six years old. So, if you have a brand-new child this year, $1,000, $1,000, $1,000, $1,000, $1,000… $6,000 (in total). If your child is four years old, that is four years old, five years old, six years old, they get $1,000 each (year). So, it is additional help, because we know that many young parents say, “I want more children, but it is very expensive”, and that is why this is a Large Families Scheme to support parents who want to have more children, and we want to do everything we can to support you.

These are the ways in which the Government can help to support families in Singapore. We know that recent global developments have made the outlook for the whole world very uncertain, but whatever comes our way, we will ensure that Singapore remains a beacon of stability and hope, and we will continue to walk with our parents and children every step of the way and work with you to build a Singapore that is made for families.

Thank you very much, thank you for being here, and we look forward to engaging all of you later. Thank you.

Explore related topics

• Families and communities