Written Answer to Unanswered Oral Question

Impact of Government-issued Vouchers and Credits on 2025 GDP Growth

Speakers

Transcript

48 Ms He Ting Ru asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether there are estimates of how much of the reported 2025 GDP growth was driven by time-limited vouchers and credits that boost short-term consumer spending; (b) whether the Government has assessed what underlying the economic growth would have been without such measures; and (c) if so, what are these estimates and assessments.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Singapore's gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5% in 2025 was largely driven by outward-oriented sectors. In particular, the manufacturing, wholesale trade, and finance and insurance sectors saw strong growth on the back of the global artificial investment (AI) investment boom, as well as resilient global trade and macroeconomic conditions. Collectively, they accounted for around 3.1 percentage points, or 62.1%, of the GDP growth in 2025.

The support measures for households and SG60 initiatives that were announced in Budget 2025 included Community Development Council vouchers, SG60 vouchers and child LifeSG credits. These were introduced primarily to help Singaporean households defray living expenses and to share the benefits of our nation's progress.

Consumer-facing sectors, such as retail trade and food and beverage services, that would benefit from these measures, collectively contributed about 0.04 percentage-point, or 0.7%, of the GDP growth in 2025.