BEIJING - China saw the deficit in its foreign exchange settlement expanded in December, official data showed on Thursday.

Chinese lenders bought $128 billion worth of foreign currency and sold $174.3 billion, resulting in a net sale of 320.3 billion yuan ($46.3 billion) in December, up from the November deficit of $33.4 billion, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

Chinese banks' forex settlement deficit hit $337.7 billion in 2016, data showed.

On a quarterly basis, the banks' forex settlement deficit fell from $124.8 billion in the first quarter to $49 billion in the second, $69.6 billion in the third and $94.3 billion in the fourth, according to the data.

"The figures show that the pressure of cross-border capital outflows has eased significantly compared with the start of 2016," said SAFE spokesperson Wang Chunying.

He said that domestic enterprises had been less interested in purchasing forex in 2016 compared to the previous year because their financing needs increased.

Foreign-currency deposits became more popular among domestic enterprises and individuals in 2016, as the balance of forex deposits in Chinese banks rose $60.4 billion in 2016, and the increase was $48.8 billion more than that of the previous year, the data showed.

China's forex reserves fell for the sixth straight month in December, by $41.1 billion to $3.01 trillion, as the central bank used them to balance the forex market and currencies weakened against the dollar.

Despite recent drops, China is still home to the world's largest forex reserve and enjoys forex inflows from its trade surplus and foreign direct investment.