Mayor Low Yen Ling at the Launch of CDC Vouchers Scheme 2025 (January)

Mr Gan Kim Yong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry

Minister Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower, Second Minister for Trade and Industry, and Adviser to Marine Parade GRC Grassroots Organisations

Fellow Mayors:

• Ms Denise Phua, Mayor of Central Singapore District

• Mr Desmond Choo, Mayor of North East District

• Mr Alex Yam, Mayor of North West District

• Mr Mohd Fahmi Aliman, Mayor of South East District

Mr Yeo Hiang Meng, BBM, President, Federation of Merchants’ Associations Singapore, Chairman & Managing Director, Heartland Enterprise Centre Singapore

Mr Jimmy Toh, Chief Executive Director, People’s Association

Distinguished guests

Welcome and Introduction

A very warm welcome to all of you to the launch of the CDC Vouchers Scheme 2025 (January).

Last year, as part of Budget 2024, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Lawrence Wong, announced a significant $1.9 billion enhancement to the Assurance Package.

This enhancement aimed to provide Singaporean households with immediate and greater relief for daily expenses amid cost-of-living challenges. As part of this move, an additional $300 in CDC Vouchers will be distributed to all Singaporean households in January 2025.

Today, we launch this sixth tranche of CDC Vouchers. We hope this will be especially useful for families with children starting their school year and even more so with the festive season approaching.

Each Singaporean household will receive $300 in CDC Vouchers, following the same arrangement and format as previous tranches:

• $150 for participating hawkers and heartland merchants, and

• $150 for participating supermarkets.

Showing Care and Support through CDCV

Since its launch, the CDC Vouchers Scheme has become a vital part of our collective Singaporean efforts to show care and support for one another. We witness three special qualities that mark this uniquely Singaporean endeavour every year.

First, Care — We see families, neighbours, and volunteers dedicating their personal time and effort to care and help each other, especially the elderlies to claim the digital vouchers.

Youth and student volunteers have also stepped up to Connect and support our residents and merchants who are digitally less savvy.

The third quality is Contribute. We have seen many generous Singaporean households contributing, sharing and donating their CDC Vouchers with the participating charities, support the beneficiaries in need. So, care, connect and contribute — the 3 Cs for our SG60.

These individual and collective efforts create a virtuous positive cycle, for a caring, resilient and inclusive Singapore.

Through the CDC Vouchers Scheme, we have collectively supported more than 1.3 million Singaporean households with their daily living expenses. At the same time, we have strengthened our local economy by supporting 23,000 participating heartland merchants and hawkers.

Strong & Vibrant Partnerships

The success of the CDC Vouchers Scheme is a result of strong partnerships and collaboration. The CDCs are deeply grateful to all our partners, volunteers, and participating merchants for their steadfast support and commitment.

We have achieved many milestones through our shared commitment and trust. Since the launch of the CDC Vouchers in 2021, we have introduced a new feature or option to the scheme each year.

In December 2021, the nationwide CDC Vouchers Scheme was launched, followed by the introduction of the GoWhere online platform, which made it easier for residents to find participating merchants, hawkers and supermarkets.

In 2022, we introduced the donation feature, which allows residents to give their unused CDC Vouchers to participating charities.

In 2023, we welcomed supermarkets — 8 supermarkets chains with about 400 outlets to the scheme, giving Singaporeans more choice and convenience for their daily essentials.

Last year, in 2024, we expanded the CDC Voucher scheme to include private heartland coffee shops offering budget meal options. This was a significant step in bringing greater value and accessible and affordable food options to Singaporeans.

So far, this has encouraged coffeeshop operators to offer more affordable meals to the community. In so doing, residents could stretch the value of their CDC Vouchers with affordable and budget-friendly options in their neighbourhoods.

• For instance, the Tenderbest Western Food stall in the Kimly coffeeshop at Jurong West offers a budget-friendly meal of chicken wings, fragrant rice and coleslaw for $3.50.

• In Telok Blangah, the Fu Lee Seafood stall in the De Tian coffee shop sells a $3.50 "mui fan" budget meal, which is popular with adults and elderly people.

Over the past few years, our CDC Voucher Scheme has evolved steadily, achieving its goals and expanding its reach.

This nationwide collaboration involving diverse organisations and people from all walks of life reflects the unity and caring hearts that define the unique Singaporean spirit.

• For example, several hawkers and heartland merchants run promotions and their own initiatives to help residents stretch their CDC vouchers and reduce daily expenses.

• We know by talking to team of FMAS, many of the participating heartland hawkers and merchants are planning special promotions in conjunction with SG60.

• Many participating supermarkets will also run SG60 promotions with the CDC vouchers.

• We are heartened by many of these examples of participating heartland merchants, hawkers and supermarkets who go the extra mile to care, connect and contribute to our community.

On behalf of the Mayors, we would like to thank the following organisations for their invaluable contributions:

• The People’s Association in particular the ten divisions of PA as well as all the frontline staff at the 112 CCs

• The various Government agencies, including:

  • The Ministry of Finance which has been funding the various tranches of CDC Vouchers since 2020;

  • The four GovTech teams, (a) Open Government Products, (b) GovTech Singpass team, (c) GovTech GoWhere team, and (d) GovTech Postman, have been working closely to improve the user experience for residents using the vouchers.

  • IMDA and its Singapore Digital Office (SDO) for supporting our digital transformation;

  • ESG and its network of Business Advisers at SME Centres @ CDC for strengthening our outreach to heartland merchants; and

  • Other government agencies such as the Singapore Land Authority, Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI), Singapore Police Force, Immigration and Checkpoint Authority and Department of Statistics for supporting us with their networks, expertise and resources.

We would also like to express our gratitude to:

• The Federation of Merchants’ Associations Singapore (FMAS), Heartland Enterprise Centre Singapore and their 54 Merchant Associations and respective local merchant associations in the 93 constituencies.

A big thank you, too, to

• Our 93 Grassroots Advisers and Grassroots Leaders for their invaluable ground support; and

• Our residents, 23,000 hawkers and heartland merchants and 8 supermarkets with about 400 outlets for their unwavering support of the CDC Vouchers Scheme.

This year, as we celebrate Singapore’s 60th birthday, the CDC Vouchers Scheme highlights how far we’ve come as a nation, united by our shared values of care, connect and contribute. Over the decades, our ability to adapt and support one another during challenging times has been a key driver of our success.

The CDC Vouchers Scheme truly reflects these values by fostering a culture of giving and inclusion. It empowers everyone — from heartland merchants to hawkers to households — to contribute meaningfully to building a stronger community.

As we celebrate the success of the CDC Vouchers Scheme because of our collective efforts, let us also use this occasion to reflect on how we can each play a part in uplifting one another, especially during SG60

Together, we can continue to build a more caring, resilient and inclusive Singapore, ensuring that every household has access to the support it needs.

Happy New Year.

Thank you.