BEIJING — China continued to see a foreign exchange (forex) settlement deficit in September, indicating forex had flowed out of the country at the retail level.

Chinese banks sold $232.1 billion’s worth of foreign currencies to individuals and institutions, and bought $122.9 billion from them, resulting in a net sale of $109.2 billion last month, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on Oct 22.

The forex settlement deficit came in at $301.5 billion in the first three quarters of 2015.