MANILA -- Cash remittances from Filipinos working overseas dropped 0.8% to $29.9 billion last year, defying expectations of a sharper fall due to the pandemic, the country's central bank said on Monday.
However, the repatriation of over 400,000 workers amid the raging global health crisis has raised concerns of whether the remittance inflows -- a lifeline to a Philippine economy that shrank by a record 9.5% last year -- can sustain their strength.