BEIJING, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's forex reserve continued to shrink in January, falling for the seventh straight month, to below the closely watched 3 trillion U.S. dollars, official data showed Tuesday.

Foreign exchange reserves stood at about 2.99 trillion U.S. dollars last month, down from about 3.01 trillion U.S. dollars in December, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said, citing figures from the central bank.

SAFE attributed the sharp decline of forex reserves to its intervention in supplying foreign exchanges to maintain market equilibrium. It added that reserves remained abundant.

The administration underlined that it was normal to see forex reserves fluctuate in light of the complicated domestic and overseas economic environment.

Capital outflow had slowed, it said, adding that capital was expected to flow in a balanced manner across the border in the near future.