BEIJING - China's foreign exchange (forex) reserves continued to drop in the first quarter of 2015 due to rising overseas investment and relaxed government controls.

Forex reserves fell to $3.73 trillion at the end of March, down from $3.84 trillion at the end of last year, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) showed on Tuesday.

Boosted by exports, forex reserves had grown for over a decade before beginning their decline in the third quarter of 2014.

Analysts attribute the decline to the "going global" of China's forex assets and the halt of compulsory forex settlement for Chinese enterprises.

Meanwhile, China's external financial assets expanded to $6.38 trillion, according to the international investment position (IIP) published by the SAFE.

The country saw $4.98 trillion of external liabilities, $1.4 trillion of net external financial assets and $985.8 billion of financial outbound direct investment.

It was the first time the agency has publish the IIP according to International Monetary Fund standards.

SAFE also said it approved $75.5 billion of investment quota for qualified foreign institutional investors, $90 billion for qualified domestic institutional investors and 391 billion yuan for RMB qualified foreign institutional investors from January to June 29.