Parents will receive more funds in their newborns’ Child Development Account (CDA) earlier, with the increased Baby Bonus benefits being given out ahead of schedule.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah said on Friday that parents of babies born on or after Feb 14 can expect to get the funds from August, earlier than in early 2024 as initially planned.
“About 12,000 parents of children born between Feb 14 and July 31 are going to benefit from the bringing forward of the CDA First Step Grant. And of course, there’ll be those who have children born after July 31, those numbers we don’t know yet,” she said on the sidelines of a visit to local start-up Go!Mama at LaunchPad @ one-north in Ayer Rajah.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong had announced in February during Budget 2023 that the CDA First Step Grant will be increased from S$3,000 (RM10,310) to S$5,000 (RM17,180) for newborns.
It is automatically credited into the CDA, which parents can use to directly offset pre-school and healthcare expenses.
The government will also increase the co-matching cap for the CDA by S$1,000 (RM3,440) for couples’ first and second children.
Under the scheme, savings deposited by parents into the account are matched dollar for dollar by the government up to a cap of S$3,000 for first-born children and S$6,000 (RM20,610) for second-born ones. This will go up to S$4,000 (RM13,740) and S$7,000 (RM24,050) respectively.
In a joint statement, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the National Population and Talent Division said that agencies were able to expedite legislation and system updates to bring forward the implementation timeline to Aug 1.
Speaking to the media, Indranee said the record number of marriages in 2022 is likely a reflection of delays in wedding plans that couples faced earlier during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A total of 29,389 couples tied the knot in 2022, a 3.7% increase from the 28,329 marriages in 2021.
Singapore’s birth rate hit a record low in 2022, with recent figures showing a 7.9% drop in the number of live births, from 38,672 in 2021 to 35,605 in 2022.
Tharani R, 27, who gave birth to her son in April, said any amount of financial support would be helpful. Her son was born pre-term at 30 weeks old and has been in hospital since.
“Any extra subsidies would go towards his medical expenses and clinic visits,” said the lab technician.
But beyond finances, Tharani also hopes that the mothers’ well-being can be supported. — The Straits Times/ANN
