BEIJING — China's commercial banks saw a net forex settlement deficit of 17.7 billion yuan (about $2.5 billion) in July, the country's forex regulator said.

Forex purchases by banks stood at 1.2068 trillion yuan last month, while sales came in at 1.2245 trillion yuan, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) showed.

The amount of forex settlement and sales by banks for customers stood at 1.0852 trillion yuan and 1.0627 trillion yuan, respectively, with a settlement surplus of 22.5 billion yuan.

The country's forex market is generally stable with balanced supply and demand, said Wang Chunying, deputy director and spokesperson of SAFE.