(Photo: CGTN)

China's deficit in foreign exchange transactions rose in February, new figures show.

Forex purchases by banks stood at 124.2 billion US dollars while sales stood at 132.5 billion dollars, a transaction deficit of 8.2 billion dollars, up from 900 million dollars in January, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

"Domestic forex supply and demand stood generally balanced last month," the SAFE said in a statement.

In the first two months, Chinese banks bought 279.8 billion dollars of foreign currency and sold 288.9 billion dollars.

Fluctuation in foreign exchange transactions is the main contributor to changes in China's foreign exchange reserves.

Reserves came in at 3.1 trillion dollars in February, down 27 billion dollars from January.