Subsidy window for hawkers to adopt e-payment extended to end-2025
More than 11,500 hawkers have adopted cashless payments so far, with government subsidies to encourage them to do so extended until the end of 2025.
The subsidy, under the Hawkers Go Digital (HGD) programme, waives the 0.5 per cent transaction fee that stallholders must pay for each digital transaction, for the first $20,000 of such transactions per stall each month.
These payments are made via QR Code, under the Singapore Quick Response Code platform.
Introduced by Enterprise Singapore and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) in 2018, the initiative aims to get about 18,000 stallholders in government-run food centres, such as those operated by the National Environment Agency and Housing Board, to adopt digital payments before subsidies are lifted.
The Straits Times reported in October 2023 that over 11,000 hawkers had taken up the subsidies.
The scheme was to have ended on Dec 31, 2023 after a three-year extension but in October 2023, it was announced that its end-date was further pushed back till end-2024.
“Following feedback from hawkers, this extension aims to encourage F&B stallholders to continue adopting e-payments and ease into a non-subsidised payment structure, especially against the backdrop of rising operating costs in the current environment,” said Enterprise SG and IMDA in a joint statement on Oct 10.
Both the monthly transaction value and volume of these e-payments have increased as compared with a year ago, according to the joint statement.
In August, the monthly transaction value reached $60 million, an increase from $45 million in August 2023.
In the same period, the monthly transaction volume increased from 5.4 million to 7.6 million.
Ms Low Yen Ling, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and Culture, Community and Youth, said the scheme is part of “our ongoing efforts to ensure our hawkers continue to thrive in the digital age”.
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