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singapore
The $7 billion figure is over and above government subsidies in other areas such as education and housing.
PHOTO: The Straits Times file
PUBLISHED ON February 06, 2025 8:48 AMByChin Soo Fang
SINGAPORE - Nearly $7 billion will be spent on marriage and parenthood initiatives in financial year 2026, up from over $4 billion in 2020.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah cited this figure to show how much recent policy changes to the early childhood sector and to parental leave entitlements will add up to on an annual basis.
Speaking in Parliament on Feb 5, Ms Indranee said Singaporean families continued to be a top national priority, even as family formation and fertility rates fall here and around the world due to changing social norms. She noted that the $7 billion figure is over and above government subsidies in other areas such as education and housing.
“The decision to marry and have children is a deeply personal one, but we know from our surveys that the majority of Singaporeans aspire to get married and have children,” she said. “This is encouraging and gives hope for the future.”
In the last five years, the Government has made a series of “major shifts and bold moves” to address people’s concerns in order to make Singapore as conducive to marriage and parenthood as possible, she said.
These include significantly ramping up leave for parents with a new shared parental leave scheme, she noted. Announced at the 2024 National Day Rally (NDR), the 10 additional weeks of government-paid leave will cost $400 million a year once it is fully implemented in 2026.
https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/a...eeks-shared-parental-leave-national-day-rally
On housing, another major area of concern, she noted that this term of government started in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, which severely disrupted construction and caused a public housing crunch.
But working with the built environment sector, the Government has completed all Build-to-Order (BTO) projects delayed by Covid-19, and exceeded its commitment to launch 100,000 BTO flats from 2021 to 2025.
Ms Indranee said the authorities will continue to put out a steady pipeline of over 50,000 flats between 2025 and 2027 to meet housing demand, and will explore launching more flats with shorter waiting times in the coming years.
The minister also addressed proposals made by the more than 20 MPs who spoke during the six-hour debate, which resolved that the House call for continued review and updating of policies to better support families, and the marriage and parenthood aspirations of Singaporeans.
Many of the suggestions centred on additional housing and financial support to encourage parenthood, as well as on greater caregiving help.
https://www.sammyboy.com/"https://w...UN/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading"
Ms Indranee noted that housing subsidies and grants had recently been enhanced for first-time buyers. These include the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG), the CPF Housing Grant for Resale Flats, and the Proximity Housing Grant.
The increased EHG from August 2024 means a first-time married couple can benefit from grants of up to $120,000 for BTO flats and up to $230,000 for resale flats, she said.
She also acknowledged concerns about the resale market, such as cash-over-valuation (COV) amounts for some resale transactions.
While this was driven by strong demand and some temporary tightness in the supply of new flats that entered the resale market, she said most resale flat buyers do not pay any COV.
It will take time for the several rounds of cooling measures that have been put in place to work their way through the market, she said.
On financial support, she noted that from April 1, the MediSave Grant for Newborns will be increased from $4,000 to $5,000. Taken together with the Baby Bonus Scheme, parents receive up to $25,000 for their first child, and up to $38,000 for subsequent children.
A new scheme to help large families, first mentioned at NDR 2024, will also be announced at the upcoming Budget on Feb 18, she added.
During the debate, Progress Singapore Party (PSP) Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai proposed that the motion be amended to instead urge the Government to reimagine policies to better support Singaporeans’ marriage and parenthood aspirations.
But this was rejected by Ms Indranee, who called the amendment “a step back”.
She noted that opposition MPs had sought to portray marriage and parenthood policies here as incremental and not bold enough, even though Singapore had begun its reimagination process back in June 2022, when then Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong launched the Forward Singapore exercise.
That was how the Government knew that housing, costs of raising children, competitive stress, and time – to balance work and family responsibilities – were the key concerns, she said.
As a result, major moves were made, such as the HDB new classification framework that led to increased subsidies for Plus and Prime flats so that flats in more desirable locations are more affordable, said Ms Indranee.
Other major moves were to ramp up infant care capacity three-fold in the last decade, and removing the PSLE T-score and broadening post-secondary pathways, she added.
“The boat called ‘Reimagination’ has already left the port and is sailing... To ask us in this amendment to start reimagination is kind of like a step back,” she said.
The PSP’s amendment was also tied to its proposed Affordable Homes Scheme first raised in 2023. Ms Indranee reiterated that this would turn Singaporeans from home owners to tenants and would be a raid on the reserves.
Mr Leong disagreed that the PSP’s scheme would be a raid on the reserves. He also asked why the Government did not commit to a total fertility rate (TFR) target to hit, to show that it was making an effort to reverse the slide in TFR.
Ms Indranee countered that having children is a personal decision that cannot be brought about just by setting a target.
“It’s up to parents to decide if they want to have children, and what we can and are doing is trying to make it as facilitative and as comfortable as possible for them to do so.”
singapore
Singapore to spend $7b on marriage and parenthood initiatives in FY2026
The $7 billion figure is over and above government subsidies in other areas such as education and housing.
PHOTO: The Straits Times file
PUBLISHED ON February 06, 2025 8:48 AMByChin Soo Fang
SINGAPORE - Nearly $7 billion will be spent on marriage and parenthood initiatives in financial year 2026, up from over $4 billion in 2020.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah cited this figure to show how much recent policy changes to the early childhood sector and to parental leave entitlements will add up to on an annual basis.
Speaking in Parliament on Feb 5, Ms Indranee said Singaporean families continued to be a top national priority, even as family formation and fertility rates fall here and around the world due to changing social norms. She noted that the $7 billion figure is over and above government subsidies in other areas such as education and housing.
“The decision to marry and have children is a deeply personal one, but we know from our surveys that the majority of Singaporeans aspire to get married and have children,” she said. “This is encouraging and gives hope for the future.”
In the last five years, the Government has made a series of “major shifts and bold moves” to address people’s concerns in order to make Singapore as conducive to marriage and parenthood as possible, she said.
These include significantly ramping up leave for parents with a new shared parental leave scheme, she noted. Announced at the 2024 National Day Rally (NDR), the 10 additional weeks of government-paid leave will cost $400 million a year once it is fully implemented in 2026.
https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/a...eeks-shared-parental-leave-national-day-rally
On housing, another major area of concern, she noted that this term of government started in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, which severely disrupted construction and caused a public housing crunch.
But working with the built environment sector, the Government has completed all Build-to-Order (BTO) projects delayed by Covid-19, and exceeded its commitment to launch 100,000 BTO flats from 2021 to 2025.
Ms Indranee said the authorities will continue to put out a steady pipeline of over 50,000 flats between 2025 and 2027 to meet housing demand, and will explore launching more flats with shorter waiting times in the coming years.
The minister also addressed proposals made by the more than 20 MPs who spoke during the six-hour debate, which resolved that the House call for continued review and updating of policies to better support families, and the marriage and parenthood aspirations of Singaporeans.
Many of the suggestions centred on additional housing and financial support to encourage parenthood, as well as on greater caregiving help.
https://www.sammyboy.com/"https://w...UN/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading"
Ms Indranee noted that housing subsidies and grants had recently been enhanced for first-time buyers. These include the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG), the CPF Housing Grant for Resale Flats, and the Proximity Housing Grant.
The increased EHG from August 2024 means a first-time married couple can benefit from grants of up to $120,000 for BTO flats and up to $230,000 for resale flats, she said.
She also acknowledged concerns about the resale market, such as cash-over-valuation (COV) amounts for some resale transactions.
While this was driven by strong demand and some temporary tightness in the supply of new flats that entered the resale market, she said most resale flat buyers do not pay any COV.
It will take time for the several rounds of cooling measures that have been put in place to work their way through the market, she said.
On financial support, she noted that from April 1, the MediSave Grant for Newborns will be increased from $4,000 to $5,000. Taken together with the Baby Bonus Scheme, parents receive up to $25,000 for their first child, and up to $38,000 for subsequent children.
A new scheme to help large families, first mentioned at NDR 2024, will also be announced at the upcoming Budget on Feb 18, she added.
During the debate, Progress Singapore Party (PSP) Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai proposed that the motion be amended to instead urge the Government to reimagine policies to better support Singaporeans’ marriage and parenthood aspirations.
But this was rejected by Ms Indranee, who called the amendment “a step back”.
She noted that opposition MPs had sought to portray marriage and parenthood policies here as incremental and not bold enough, even though Singapore had begun its reimagination process back in June 2022, when then Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong launched the Forward Singapore exercise.
That was how the Government knew that housing, costs of raising children, competitive stress, and time – to balance work and family responsibilities – were the key concerns, she said.
As a result, major moves were made, such as the HDB new classification framework that led to increased subsidies for Plus and Prime flats so that flats in more desirable locations are more affordable, said Ms Indranee.
Other major moves were to ramp up infant care capacity three-fold in the last decade, and removing the PSLE T-score and broadening post-secondary pathways, she added.
“The boat called ‘Reimagination’ has already left the port and is sailing... To ask us in this amendment to start reimagination is kind of like a step back,” she said.
The PSP’s amendment was also tied to its proposed Affordable Homes Scheme first raised in 2023. Ms Indranee reiterated that this would turn Singaporeans from home owners to tenants and would be a raid on the reserves.
Mr Leong disagreed that the PSP’s scheme would be a raid on the reserves. He also asked why the Government did not commit to a total fertility rate (TFR) target to hit, to show that it was making an effort to reverse the slide in TFR.
Ms Indranee countered that having children is a personal decision that cannot be brought about just by setting a target.
“It’s up to parents to decide if they want to have children, and what we can and are doing is trying to make it as facilitative and as comfortable as possible for them to do so.”
