Follow our live coverage here.

SINGAPORE – FairPrice Group (FPG) will freeze the prices of its 100 most popular daily essentials to help Singaporeans cope with rising costs of living amid the Middle East conflict.

The price freeze will be in effect from April 9 to May 31.

Included are FairPrice’s house-brand rice, oil, eggs, fresh and frozen pork and chicken, Milo, milk and detergent.

FPG said more than nine in 10 of its customers from households with a lower monthly income – Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) Blue and Orange card holders – purchase products from its basket of 100 essentials.

The group will also double discounts for the same beneficiaries from 3 per cent to 6 per cent for the period of the price freeze.

This will be supported by FPG’s philanthropic arm FairPrice Foundation.

Mr Vipul Chawla, group chief executive officer of FPG, said on April 8 that these initiatives are rooted in its core purpose since it was first established as a single cooperative supermarket to keep staples affordable amid the 1970s oil crisis.

“Food and groceries make up over 20 per cent of the average household budget; and even more for lower-income families,” he said.

“Through our price freeze and doubled weekly CHAS discounts, we are stepping up to help Singaporean households navigate these uncertain times.”

He added that FPG’s mission is to keep meals nutritious and healt...