singapore government Archives

Confronting Singapore’s Baby Bust With The Baby Bonus Scheme

It does not take a genius to understand how money greatly affects the Singaporeans’ approach to marriage and parenthood. The leading reasons why most Singaporeans are hesitant to make immediate marital or child-rearing plans are related to finances. The country’s population is affected due to these circumstances.

Related Article: Why Many Singaporeans Are Not Tying The Knot

Although last year’s Golden Jubilee ushered about 33,793 babies, our fertility rate remains below the replacement rate of 2.1 (i.e., the rate to maintain the population levels). This is why the Government introduces different incentives to encourage couples to have more children.

Attractive incentives include the parental leave, childcare subsidizes, and baby bonus. This article is going to focus on the beaming Baby Bonus Scheme! It was started in 2001 to provide financial assistance and support Singaporean couples in their decision to raise more children. The scheme is part of the “Marriage and Parenthood Package”, which includes a cash gift and (or) contributions to the Child Development Account (CDA).

You are welcome to avail the Baby Bonus Scheme if your child:

a. is a Singapore citizen,
b. was born alive,
c. was born from lawfully married parents, and
d. was born on or after September 1, 2016 from unwed parents.

After careful examination, you found out that you eligible to reap the benefits of the Baby Bonus Scheme. Congratulations! Remember that it has two distinct forms – the cash gift and the CDA.

The cash gift, as the name suggests, is given in the form of tangible dollars. The purchasing power belongs to you as you can do anything you desire with it. Use it responsibly to cushion the hefty newborn costs. You shall receive a cash gift of S$8,000 for your 1st and 2nd child. While, your 3rd and 4th child shall receive S$10,000 each. This only pertains to babies born on or after January 1, 2015. The cash gift will be given to you within 7-10 working days or after completing the online form.

CDA is a special savings account that can only be opened at the government approved banks. You may use it to shoulder the costs of childcare, kindergartens, medical procedures, and private integrated shield plans. Upon opening the CDA, you will receive the Dollar-for-Dollar matching contributions and CDA First Step grant.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

The ultimate purpose of the BBS is to provide financial assistance to parents who will help build a brighter future for Singapore. For more information, go to the official website at babybonus.msf.gov.sg.

Sources: 1 & 2

Alibaba’s Sales Soared High Months After Singapore Bought A Billion In Stocks

My uncle is a proud owner of several holistic spas. Whether his branches are in need of a new machine (e.g., IPL or Laser Hair Removal Machine), he visits Alibaba first. Alibaba is a global marketplace that is relatively prompt and reliable. It is reigns supreme in the world of Chinese e-commerce. Its broad prevalence in Asia is comparable to United States’ Amazon or eBay.

It comes as no surprise that its sales soared up to 55% in the last quarter due to cloud computing. As Chief Executive Daniel Zhang once said: “Our results reflect our increasing ability to monetise our 450 million mobile users through new and innovative social
commerce experiences.” You can expect that this number of users will grow positively each year.

Image Credits: Global Panorama via Flickr Creative Commons (Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic)

You see, cloud computing is the practice of utilizing a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet instead of using a local server. It manages, stores, and processes data in that manner. Basically, cloud computing allows the users to store and access data online without needing a computer’s hard drive. It allows Alibaba to operate conveniently and swiftly.

What is interesting is the fact that the Government of Singapore purchased a total of US$1 billion (about S$1.38 billion) last June. GIC Private and Temasek Holdings each signed to US$500 million (S$692.15 million) of Alibaba shares, which were priced at US$74 (S$102.44) a piece thru subsidiaries. These shares were a part of the US$8.9 billion (S$12.32 billion) sale by Japan’s SoftBank. SoftBank remains to be Alibaba’s biggest shareholder. The elevated sales of Alibaba showed that the decision to acquire the shares was beneficial – at least for now.

You may think that Alibaba’s local competitors called RedMart and Lazada were shaken by these news, but you are wrong! Alibaba had recently invested in these two companies due to their financial constraints.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

We can only hope that these circumstances will improve Singapore’s e-commerce platform in the future.

Sources: 1, 2, & 3

Prominent Shifts In Singapore’s Budget 2016

The Budget 2016 signifies a new era – an era that is governed by a new decade (following SG50), new government (following 2015’s general election), and a new Finance Minister. Despite this, most of the expert panel at the discussion held by The Straits Times last March 26 agreed that the strategies taken by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat was evolutionary.

Although he stayed on the path of restructuring for long-term growth and building social cohesion, as laid down over the past years, he had three main shifts in his approach. These shifts were namely: more financial help for companies, working closely with the people, and more funds for innovation.

MORE FINANCIAL HELP FOR COMPANIES

One of the most noticeable changes is seen in the government’s approach towards firms. With the S$4.5 billion Industry Transformation Package, Budget 2016 extends its financial help to companies with open arms. This promotes greater entrepreneurial spirit.

Another policy called the “Automation Support Package”, which will cost more than S$400 million over 3 years, is aimed at helping the companies to upgrade the utilization of automation in their operations. It will subsidize up to 50% or S$1 million of a project in order to help companies to expand the use of machines and progress more – even internationally.

WORKING CLOSELY WITH THE PEOPLE

In facing the challenges of tomorrow, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat is positioning the government as more of a partner than a leader.

As the Budget is given to the trade associations, companies, and unions, the solution is in their hands. Regardless of which industry you belong to, the government is going to help the firm (of a certain size) to grow!

Image Credits: pixabay.com (CC0 Public Domain)

MORE FUNDS FOR INNOVATION

The last change is seen on Mr. Heng’s approach to focus more on innovation than productivity. In his speech, he highlights that innovation does not require high-tech software or robots. Instead, innovation is in the application of existing technologies in creative and lateral ways.

Supporting this approach is the upcoming S$100 million National Trade Platform. It will allow service providers to develop applications or value-added services on top of the platform. This is similar to an open-source environment. With this new scheme, an uncharted venture awaits!

Sources: 1 & 2

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