JAKARTA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Premium funds gathered by insurance firms operating in Indonesia stood at 47.9 trillion rupiah (about 3.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the third quarter due to significant growth in vehicles and loan insurances, the Indonesian insurance association said on Thursday.

The figure was 8.3 percent higher than 44.2 trillion rupiah (about 3 billion U.S. dollars) recorded in the corresponding period last year, Executive Director of Indonesian General Insurance Association (AAUI) Dody Dalimunthe said.

Dody said premium funds gathered in vehicle insurance during the third quarter stood at 13.76 trillion rupiah (about 944.1 million U.S. dollars), higher than 12.45 trillion (about 854.3 million U.S. dollars) in the same period last year.

The 10.5-percent growth of funds gathered in vehicle insurance funds resulted from impressive sales of motorbikes and cars at the end of third quarter, which amounted to 4.72 million and 856,500 units respectively.

Those figures were 8.8 and 6.68 percent higher than in the same period last year respectively.

"We recorded highest growth in loan insurance that reached 4.63 trillion rupiah (about 317.6 million U.S. dollars) in the third quarter, or 36.2 percent higher than 3.3 trillion rupiah (about 226.4 million U.S. dollars) in the same period last year," Dody told a press conference.

The other sectors that booked positive growth were commercial plane, accident and health insurances, he added.

Sectors that posted negative growths during the third quarter were engineering, energy, ship frame and belongings, he added.

Meanwhile, total claims paid by insurance firms in the country during the period stood at 20.1 trillion rupiah (about 1.37 billion U.S. dollars), or 1.5 percent higher than 19.8 trillion rupiah (about 1.35 billion U.S. dollars) in the third quarter last year.