BEIJING, Feb. 18 -- China's commercial banks saw a forex settlement deficit of 45.3 billion U.S. dollars in January, official data showed on Tuesday.

Forex purchases by banks reached 181.5 billion dollars, while sales stood at 226.8 billion dollars, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) showed.

China's foreign exchange market has been operating in a steady and orderly fashion since the start of the year, the SAFE said in a statement.

Looking ahead, the market has solid foundations and conditions to continue its stable performance, the SAFE said, adding that implementation of the more proactive and impactful macro-policies is set to further consolidate the sound economic momentum and shore up the country's foreign exchange market.

SAFE data also showed that China's net cross-border capital inflow in goods trade reached 70 billion dollars last month, a record high for the period.