13,000 Parents Will Receive $3,000 Baby Support Grant By July

Around 13,000 eligible parents will receive a $3,000 Baby Support Grant payout by July, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah on Wednesday.

The $3,000 grant was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic 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 at Budget 2023 to those who had babies between Oct 1, 2022, and Feb 13, 2023.

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.

Text: Anjali Raguarman/The Straits Times