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SINGAPORE, October 10 (dpa): Singapore will award couples a $ 3,000 ($ 2,213) grant for any child born over the next two years, the government announced.
The “one-time” payment is intended to “further help couples defray the costs of raising children” during the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) stated.
The disbursement will complement existing incentives worth up to $ 10,000 per child.
According to a recent poll cited by the prime minister’s office, 30 percent of Singaporeans were considered “likely to delay their plans to marry or have a child, as a result of the pandemic and its effects on the economy.”
“The government will spare no effort to help couples fulfill their aspirations for marriage and parenthood,” said Indranee Rajah, PMO minister who heads the National Population and Talent Division.
Singapore, one of the richest per capita economies in the world, began in 2001 to offer financial incentives to induce couples to have more children, after its once-high fertility rate plummeted.
During the 1970s, the prime minister urged families to “stop at two,” advice that appears to have led to one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, below China, Japan and the European Union.
On average, Singaporean couples now have 1.14 children, according to 2019 data, below the level of 2.1 required for a population to survive from one generation to the next without immigration.
Singapore’s population contracted 0.3 percent during the 12 months to July 2020, according to official data released last month.
Singapore’s population of 5.69 million consists of 3.5 million “Singapore citizens”, with the remainder made up of “permanent residents” and migrant workers.
Singapore is also gradually recovering from record losses brought on by coronavirus-related restrictions, according to retail data and a survey of factory managers released Monday.
Retail sales in Southeast Asia’s wealthiest economy rose 1.4 percent in August compared to July, the Statistics Department said, marking the continuation of a rally seen from the two-month close that ended in June. .
However, August sales remained below 5.7 percent year on year.
“Retail and administrative trade [and] Support services sectors continued to be negatively affected by ongoing social distancing measures, “the statistics department said in a statement.
Nearly 11 percent of all August retail sales were made online, including a fifth of food and beverage sales, as restaurants struggled to regain the eat-at-home business after a ban during the shutdown. – dpa
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