SINGAPORE: Singaporean households can claim and use S$500 (US$388) in Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers from Thursday (Jun 11).
These vouchers were originally meant to be disbursed in January 2027, but the date was brought forward to help households ease cost pressures amid the uncertainty of the Middle East conflict.
This tranche of vouchers, initially announced at Budget 2026, will cost the government S$700.07 million and is expected to benefit about 1.38 million Singaporean households. The vouchers will remain valid until Dec 31, 2027.
As with earlier tranches, the S$500 will be split equally – half for spending at more than 24,000 participating hawkers and heartland merchants, and the other half at participating supermarkets.
Speaking at the launch of the vouchers on Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said the impact of the Middle East conflict has so far been "less severe than we had feared".
He noted that core inflation had eased to 1.4 per cent year-on-year in April, down from 1.7 per cent in March.
But as the situation "remains fluid", the government is ready to do more, said Mr Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry and chair of the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce.
"The government will continue to monitor developments closely. And when the need arises, we will stand ready to do more, as we have always done so before."
Imported cost pressures are expected to go up in the months ahead as higher energy and input costs pass through global supply chains, he added.
This means inflation may rise in the months to come, he said.
The CDC vouchers are part of a broader effort to help Singaporeans manage daily expenses, as well as to support hawkers and heartland merchants, said Mr Gan.
(From left, front row) Mr Ang Wei Neng, member of parliament for West Coast-Jurong West GRC (Nanyang), Ms Denise Phua, mayor of Central Singapore district, Mr Chinnathambi Muniyandi, owner of Amman Household Supplies, Mr Gan Kim Yong, deputy prime minister and minister for trade and industry, Ms Low Yen Ling, chairman of Mayors’ Committee and mayor of South West district, Mr Alex Yam, mayor of North West district, and Mr Baey Yam Keng, mayor of North East district, take a group photo on Jun 11, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Liew Zhi Xin)
Mayor of South West district Low Yen Ling, said in a Facebook update on Thursday evening that more than 500,000 Singaporean households have claimed their S$500 CDC Vouchers since the launch on Thursday morning.
Earlier, Ms Low, who was also at the launch event, said 94.5 per cent of the vouchers from the January 2026 tranche have been claimed.
Of these vouchers, 80.1 per cent have been spent so far, with about S$151 million spent at participating hawkers and heartland merchants, and S$158 million spent at participating supermarkets, she added.
"Its high utilisation rate indicates that Singaporeans have found the CDC voucher scheme to be useful as well as accessible," said Ms Low, who is also Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, as well as Culture, Community and Youth.
As of Jun 3, more than S$4.64 billion has been spent across eight tranches of CDC vouchers and two tranches of SG60 vouchers, she added.
HOW TO REDEEM THE VOUCHERS
Similar to the previous tranches, one member of each Singaporean household can visit go.gov.sg/cdcv and log in with their Singpass to claim the digital vouchers.
Once the vouchers are claimed, the registered mobile number will receive an SMS from gov.sg with a unique voucher link that can be shared among household members.
The SMS links for this tranche of the scheme will be different from the links for the January 2026 tranche, the People’s Association (PA) and the five CDCs said in a separate press release.
The participating supermarkets are Ang Mo Supermarket, Cold Storage, Giant Singapore, HAO Mart, NTUC FairPrice, Prime Supermarket, Sheng Siong and U Stars Supermarket.
The CDC Vouchers Scheme was launched in June 2020 and January 2021 to defray the cost of living for lower-income households, and to support hawkers and heartland merchants affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since Budget 2021, the vouchers have been given out every year and to all Singaporean households.
In the last three tranches, households received S$300 in January 2025, S$500 in May 2025 and S$300 in January 2026. The January 2026 vouchers will expire on Dec 31, 2026.
MERCHANTS' RESPONSE
Since merchants started accepting CDC vouchers when the scheme was first launched in 2020, Ms Zaheera Rasool has seen a 50 per cent uptick in dine-in sales at Putris Asia Ghani, a Muslim chicken rice stall in a coffee shop in Jurong West that she runs with her mother.
The escalation of the Middle East conflict earlier this year has also pushed up their costs by 20 per cent to 30 per cent. “All our suppliers are slowly sending us messages stating that they need to increase prices,” she said.
"We have not yet increased prices because we are trying to help customers als…
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