BEIJING, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese banks saw foreign exchange (forex) settlement surplus last month, data from the country's forex regulator showed Friday.

In March, the amount of forex settlement by banks was 221.7 billion U.S. dollars, while the amount of forex sales was 202 billion dollars, resulting in a surplus of 19.7 billion dollars, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said.

In the first quarter, the banks recorded a forex settlement surplus of 88.5 billion U.S. dollars, the data showed.