Singapore has decided to encourage its citizens to have babies by offering them a one-time payment.
According to Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keith, people who face financial pressure and worry about their jobs are avoiding during pregnancy and childbirth and this incentive will calm them.
“We received feedback that COVID-19 has caused some aspiring parents to delay their plans. This is understandable, especially when they face uncertainty about their income,” Heng Swee Keith told lawmakers on Monday.
So far, the amount of the benefit was not mentioned. Signapore had a significantly successful public health response to the pandemic, nonetheless its economy was still plunged into deep recession.
In the second quarter, GDP contracted 12.6% compared to the same period of the previous year, which economists say is “the sharpest drop in history.”
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