Pedestrians cross a street at the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore on March 12, 2015. Photo by AFP
More than 60% of Singaporean households have claimed the S$300 (US$220) in Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers, which help alleviate living expenses, within two days of their launch.
More than 800,000 households out of the city-state’s 1.3 million have claimed the vouchers, The Straits Times reported, citing a Facebook post on Sunday by Low Yen Ling, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth, and Trade and Industry.
“We are glad that the CDC Vouchers are coming to good use in the new year, especially with the start of school for many Singaporean families and the Lunar New Year round the corner,” she said.
The latest tranche of vouchers, launched last Friday, marks the sixth distribution under the CDC voucher scheme, which was designed to ease the cost of living for Singaporean households and support hawkers and heartland merchants impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
These vouchers are valid until Dec. 31, 2025, with half redeemable at participating hawker stalls and heartland merchants, and the other half at supermarkets, CNA reported.
Two tranches were given out in 2024, one worth S$500 in January and another S$300 in June.
Some 1.3 million households claimed these vouchers last year, with spending amounting to S$1.008 billion. Around half, or S$500 million, was used at hawkers and heartland merchants while the other S$508 million was spent at supermarkets, according to Low.
Although the 2024 vouchers were valid only until the end of that year, unredeemed vouchers can still be donated to charities until Jan. 31, 2025, she noted.
