JAKARTA, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Loans by commercial banks in Indonesia expanded 8.5 percent in November compared to a year ago, faster than the 7.5 percent pace a month before, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) said on Friday.
The ratio of Non-performing loans (NPL) was 3.18 percent of outstanding loans in December, OJK said. The central bank earlier this month said the average level of NPLs in the banking industry was 3.20 percent in October.
The November data came earlier than expected. OJK usually puts out banking statistics with a two month delay.
Annual loan growth slowed from above 20 percent during the commodities boom to just 6.47 percent in September - the weakest pace since 2009. Since then, the pace has rebounded, and OJK has said loan growth during 2016 would be around 7-9 percent.
(Reporting by Cindy Silviana; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Richard Borsuk)