Interest-free Deferments of Student Loan Repayments During Pandemic

Mr Kwek Hian Chuan Henry asked the Minister for Education whether the Ministry can work with the tertiary institutions and banks to create more flexibility in allowing Singaporean tertiary graduates who are having difficulty in finding good jobs upon their graduation to get interest-free deferments of their student loan repayments for up to 24 months.

As part of the Budget 2020 measures to support Singaporeans affected by the economic impact of COVID-19, MOE has suspended loan repayments and interest accrual for Government-funded loan schemes for all Autonomous University and Polytechnic graduates for one year, from 1 June 2020 to 31 May 2021.

In addition, through various traineeship programmes and active job placement efforts, we have been able to ensure that tertiary graduates were able to find good jobs upon their graduation. We will continue these efforts for this year’s graduating cohort. Generally, we can expect better employment outcomes as the overall economic and labour market outlook has improved.

Nevertheless, we are aware that the outlook is highly uncertain and unpredictable, and will depend to a large extent on the external environment and the path of the pandemic. Therefore, we will continue to monitor the situation closely and will consider how best to assist the graduates who continue to face difficulties in securing jobs.