SINGAPORE – Around 13,000 eligible parents will receive a $3,000 Baby Support Grant (BSG) payout by July, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah on Wednesday.
The $3,000 BSG was first introduced during Covid-19 as a temporary support measure for parents, over and above the Baby Bonus Cash Gift, to encourage couples to have children. It lasted from Oct 1, 2020, to Sept 30, 2022.
It was further extended to those who had babies between Oct 1, 2022, and Feb 13, 2023, at Budget 2023.
“We are configuring the IT systems to arrange for earlier payouts to parents,” said Ms Indranee in posts on her social media pages, adding that eligible parents will be receiving their notifications soon.
As part of a new package of measures announced at Budget 2023, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said married couples with Singaporean babies born on or after Feb 14, 2023, will get $3,000 more in the form of a separate Baby Bonus Cash Gift.
This means that eligible first- and second-born children will receive $11,000, up from $8,000. And for the third child onwards, this will be increased from $10,000 to $13,000.
The funds will also be paid out over a longer period of time, until the child turns 6½ years old.
Currently, the Baby Bonus Cash Gift is disbursed in five instalments over the child’s first 18 months, to help defray child-raising costs during infancy.
The enhanced Baby Bonus Cash Gift will be paid out from early 2024.
Singapore’s total fertility rate hit an all-time low of 1.04 in 2022 with more people postponing marriage and parenthood, and having fewer children. It fell below the previous record of 1.1 in 2020 and 1.12 in 2021.
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