Budget Could Have Focused on Second Child Incentives: Panel

Prodding couples to go for 3rd baby 'a bridge too far': Panellist

- Krist Boo

Budget 2025 would have been better nudging couples thinking of having a second child rather than the third, said a panel discussion organised by consultancy firm KPMG and the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID).

The stork might work harder going for a lower hanging fruit, said Professor Tan Cheng Han, chairman of the Singapore Exchange Regulation.

"My own sense is that when a married couple has one child, there is a great incentive to have the second one, if nothing else, to ensure that your child has a sibling," he said.

Giving free schooling up to junior college level or offsets in costs of having the second child would still be manageable for the Government, he added.

About 40.1 per cent of Singaporean ever-married women aged 40 to 49 — perceived as the end of child-bearing years — have no children or one child, while 41.8 per cent have two, according to 2024 official figures.

The Large Families Scheme announced in Budget 2025 grants parents up to $16,000 in one-off grants for each third or subsequent child born on or after Feb 18.

"My own instinct is that trying to incentivise couples with the third child is a bridge too far," said Prof Tan.

Keeping Singapore's edge as the country grapples with an ageing population and declining birth rates occupied much of the 40-minute panel discussion on Budget 2025 held at the KPMG office in Asia Square on March 4.