$3b payout over the next six months - Singapore
By Lynn Lee
SINGAPOREANS fretting over skyrocketing food prices will get some respite in the coming months - in the form of cash and rebates from the Government.
These benefits will add up to about $3 billion this year, the Finance Ministry said in a statement yesterday.
The payouts, with more going to the low-income and the elderly, will take place on three dates.
On April 30, the first of two parts of the Growth Dividends, arising from last year’s Budget surplus, will be given out.
On Oct 1, the second portion will be distributed.
In all, the amounts will range from $400 for low-income earners to $100 for those earning beyond $100,000 a year.
Those older than 60, and former and current national servicemen, will get more.
In-between these dates, there will be another payout.
On July 1, the Government will give out the second round of GST credits and the Senior Citizens’ Bonus for those aged 55 and older and earning up to $100,000.
The GST credits will be given in cash, to offset last year’s hike in the Goods and Services Tax from 5 per cent to 7 per cent. There will be two more payments, with the final amount given in 2010.
The sums will range from $100 to $250 a year, depending on income and housing type.
As for the bonus, older Singaporeans will get between $50 and $250, some in cash and the rest into their Medisave accounts.
Singaporeans who did not sign up last year for their GST credits can do so from today, and get all three payouts.
They can do it online at www.gstoffset.gov.sg, or in person at community centres, CPF service centres and community development councils.
The deadline is Dec 31.
Undergraduate Tan Yanhe, 25, said that the $1,300 his parents will get in total will ‘help pay for necessities like food’.
‘I’ve been tracking the price rises and it’s scary,’ added Mr Tan, who lives with them in a five-room HDB flat in Hougang.
His father, 55, a market stall helper, earns about $1,000 a month, and his mother, 59, is a housewife.
Besides the three disbursements, a host of rebates will also be given out. Among them: utilities, HDB rent, property tax as well as service and conservancy charges.
Students aged seven to 20 will get top-ups in their post-secondary education accounts to fund their studies here.
Secretary Karen Stead, 40, said she will save all the money she gets for a rainy day.
She lives in a five-room flat in Jurong West with her 44-year-old husband, who works in sales at a company selling heavy vehicles, and their two children, 11 and 14.
The family can expect around $2,900 in cash, top-ups and rebates this year.
Source : Straits Times - 15 April 2008
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