China saw a deficit of 41.5 billion U.S. dollars in its foreign exchange settlement in July, according to statistics released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) on Aug. 18, indicating the country is facing heightened capital flowing out pressure.

The foreign exchange settlement deficit hit 91.4 billion USD in the first quarter, but narrowed to 13.9 billion USD in the second quarter. In April alone the deficit hit 17.3 billion USD, but May saw 1.3 billion USD of surplus and June reported 2.1 billion USD of surplus.

Wen Bin, principal researcher of China Minsheng Bank, said that along with the growing expectation of FED increasing interest rate, non-dollar currencies including the yuan are under pressure. And the sharp adjustment in stock market in July also makes enterprises and residents prefer dollar.

The foreign exchange settlement deficit came in at 148.8 billion USD in the first seven months of 2015.