Japanese bank lending in November rose 0.6% from a year earlier, data showed on Wednesday, slowing from the previous month"s pace in a sign corporate funding strains continued to ease as the economy emerges from the coronavirus pandemic"s hit. The decline suggested big companies are paying back loans they received last year and aren"t borrowing as much, in a sign they have weathered the cash crunch and are returning to business-as-usual. The data will be among factors Bank of Japan policymakers will scrutinise in deciding whether to scale back emergency lending schemes introduced last year to cope with the pandemic"s initial damage. Outstanding loans held by the country"s four main categories of banks, including "shinkin" or credit unions, stood at a record 577.075 trillion yen ($5.08 trillion), BOJ data showed. The increase in November was smaller than a 0.9% gain in October. Loans by major banks fell 1.1% in November, more than a revised 0.7% drop in October, the data showed. "Corporate fund demand is subdued as a whole, so we may continue to see growth in bank lending slow ahead," a BOJ official told a briefing. The BOJ ramped up purchases of corporate bonds and commercial paper, and introduced a loan scheme aimed at channeling funds to small firms via financial institutions last year to combat a crush crunch caused by the pandemic. The recent spread of the Omicron new variant complicates the BOJ"s decision, expected to be made as early as next week"s rate review, on whether to phase out the programmes when they reach their current deadline in March 2022.