File photo shows a worker counts the U.S. dollars at a bank in Qionghai City, south China's Hainan Province. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's commercial banks saw a forex settlement deficit of 110.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, official data showed Tuesday.

In yuan terms, forex purchases by banks reached 16.54 trillion yuan (about 2.3 trillion U.S. dollars), while sales stood at around 17.33 trillion yuan, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) showed.

In December alone, these commercial banks saw a net forex settlement deficit of 76.8 billion yuan, according to the administration.

In 2024, the balance of payments maintained a basic equilibrium, Li Bin, deputy head of SAFE, told a press conference.

Looking ahead, Li expressed optimism about the stability of China's balance of payments, highlighting the increasing resilience of the forex market and the favorable conditions for a stable RMB exchange rate.