Funds Disbursed to Help Singaporeans Earning Less Than $1,500

Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance how much the Government has given, in terms of Government financial transfers, to Singaporeans earning less than $1,500 per month for the years of 2010, 2011 and year-to-date of 2012 respectively.

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Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: It is meaningful to look at Government financial transfers to Singaporeans on a household basis rather than on an individual basis, as many transfers are given either on a household basis or to individuals based on their household's characteristics.

Average annual Government transfers to citizen households on a per capita basis – that is, including dependents and those who are not working – in the second lowest income decile was $1,737 in 2010 and $2,148 in 2011 1 .

Those in the lowest decile would have on average received annual transfers of $2,549 in 2010 and $2,923 in 2011 on a per capita basis.

We are unable to provide the same transfers information for 2012 (year-to-date) at the moment, as the composition of households in each decile based on 2012 income is not known, and the detailed data on disbursement of transfers is also not yet available.

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Note(s) to Question No(s) 19:

1 The transfers include housing rebates, cash and savings transfers, transfers related to Workfare Income Supplement Scheme (WIS) and Workfare Training Support, as well as transfers related to education, childcare and healthcare.