The combined debt owed by regional governments declined for a third straight year in 2016.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said on Tuesday that regional governments reported 26-point-four trillion won in liabilities as of the end of last year, down one-point-five trillion won from a year earlier.

Gyeonggi Province posted the sharpest decrease of about 555 billion won, a decline of 13-point-seven percent from 2015, while most of the other regional governments also managed to reduce their debt levels.

The ministry attributed the dropping debt levels to diminishing tax-exemption benefits as well as the gradual economic recovery, but it warned financial self-reliance for most regions is still a long way off.