Dollars sent home by Filipinos working and living abroad declined month-on-month in April despite a growth in overseas deployment.

Data released yesterday by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed remittances for April alone amounted to $1.41 billion from $1.43 billion in March. The amount, however, was still higher than $1.19 billion from the same month last year.

The decline in April appeared seasonal as lower remittance were posted for the same month in the past.

Remittances reached $5.4 billion in the first four months of the year, or an 18.4% increase from $4.68 billion in the same period a year ago.

Overall, the central bank said the continued rise in remittances was partly fuelled by the double-digit growth in deployment.