160,000 Singaporeans to receive $100 grocery vouchers
About 160,000 eligible Singaporeans will receive $100 worth of grocery vouchers next month to relieve household expenses amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is part of the Care and Support Package announced at last year's Budget.
All Singaporeans aged 21 and above this year who live in one- and two-room Housing Board flats and do not own more than one property are eligible for the vouchers, said the Ministry of Finance in a statement yesterday.
The grocery voucher scheme will provide a total of about $63 million in assistance to those eligible.
Last year, the recipients received $300 worth of vouchers in two equal batches: one in October and one in December.
Next month's distribution of $100 worth of vouchers will be the third batch.
The vouchers will be delivered to eligible households on Saturdays throughout next month, starting this Saturday.
DELIVERED TO DOORSTEP
Eligible recipients in Chinatown, Queenstown and Bukit Merah, for instance, will have their vouchers delivered to their doorstep this Saturday.
If there is no one at home to receive the vouchers that day, there will be a second delivery attempt over the following week, between Oct 4 and Oct 8.
If no one picks up the second delivery, the courier will leave a delivery notification card at the doorstep for recipients to collect their vouchers at a specified post office within 10 working days.
The grocery vouchers can be used at supermarkets, including Giant, FairPrice, Prime Supermarket and Sheng Siong.
Ms Fu Chunrui, 38, who sells clothes at a wet market in Jurong, is looking forward to receiving the vouchers, having benefited from the $300 worth of vouchers she got last year.
She has been not working in the past two weeks as she has had to stay home and support her two daughters, who are on home-based learning.
"My earnings have been greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The grocery vouchers were very useful. I usually spend about $70 to $80 each time I visit the supermarket, so $150 worth of vouchers helped to pay for two visits," added Ms Fu. - THE STRAITS TIMES
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
