BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- China's commercial banks saw a net forex settlement deficit of 101.3 billion yuan, or 15 billion U.S. dollars, in February, the country's forex regulator said Monday.

This reversed a surplus of 81.8 billion yuan reported in January, the first surplus in seven months, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

Forex purchases by banks stood at 699.7 billion yuan last month, while sales reached 801.1 billion yuan.

The data led to a forex settlement deficit of 19.5 billion yuan for the first two months of the year, according to the SAFE.