BEIJING, April 21 -- China's banks saw a net forex settlement deficit of 15.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter, the country's forex regulator said Friday.

Forex purchases by banks stood at 546 billion dollars, while sales reached 561.3 billion dollars, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed.

In March alone, China's banks saw a net forex settlement deficit of 15.9 billion dollars.