The pandemic has forced the city-state to get creative with its population problem.

The city-state of Singapore has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, with approximately 1.14 births per female citizen. Many Singaporean citizens are reaching elderly ages, which is proving a problem as the country tries to work its way out of a pandemic-induced recession. Compared to the same time last year, Singapore saw its GDP shrink by 12.6% in Q2 2020.

Over the last several decades, the Singaporean government has been trying to improve its birth rates through a variety of incentives, mostly tax-focused, but nothing seems to have caused a concrete impact. In order to incentivize couples to have children in these more tumultuous times, the Singaporean government has decided to offer a more tangible benefit: a cash payout.

“We have received feedback that COVID-19 has caused some aspiring parents to postpone their parenthood plans,” Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat told lawmakers on Monday. “This is fully understandable, especially when they face uncertainty with their income.”

Heng Swee Keat announced yesterday that any parents who have a child for a currently indeterminate period will be awarded a one-time cash payment, though he did not specify exactly how much the payment would be.

According to statistics from John Hopkins University, Singapore has managed to avoid the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, having only 27 confirmed deaths since March. Thanks to a robust, technologically-backed contact tracing network, the city has been able to quickly isolated any suspected cases and trace anyone who may have been exposed. However, they are still deep in recession, primarily due to the severe reduction in tourism to the city.