China's banks post forex settlement deficit in April

BEIJING -- China's commercial banks saw a net forex settlement deficit of 73.7 billion yuan, or 11 billion US dollars, in April, the country's forex regulator said Monday.

This widened from a deficit of 41.2 billion yuan reported in March, but was smaller than a deficit of 101.3 billion yuan in February, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Forex purchases by banks stood at 1.02 trillion yuan last month, while sales reached 1.09 trillion yuan.