BEIJING -- China's commercial banks saw a net forex settlement surplus of 15.6 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) in December 2019, the country's forex regulator said Friday.

Forex purchases by banks stood at 1.26 trillion yuan last month, while sales reached 1.25 trillion yuan, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed.

Last year, China saw a forex settlement deficit of 384.3 billion yuan.