MANILA - Makati City remained the country's richest city for third year in a row, with P233.78 billion in total assets in 2019, according to a report of the Commission on Audit (COA).

In its latest Annual Financial Report (AFR) for Local Government, Makati City's assets increased by P2.948 billion from its listed total assets of P230.833 billion in 2018. The country's main financial center had P196.574 billion in total assets in 2017.

Quezon City is second richest city with P96.423 billion in total assets, followed by Manila with P64.806 billion, Pasig with P45.639 billion, and Cebu City with P34.711 billion, the 406-page report showed.

Joining the top 10 richest cities in the country for the first time is Mandaue City at sixth place with P32.158 billion in total assets.

Taguig City fell to seventh place with P29.065 billion, Caloocan at eight with P20.599 billion and Pasay at ninth with P19.795 billion.

Rounding out the top 10 is Davao City, the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte, with P19.784 billion in total assets.

Meanwhile, Cebu held the top spot as the country's richest province with P203.9 billion in total assets.

Trailing are Batangas in second place with P20.793 billion, Rizal in third with P20.275 billion, Davao de Oro in fourth with P20.1 billion and Bukidnon in fifth with P18.294 billion.

Also in the top 10 richest provinces are Surigao del Norte with P16.684 billion, Negros Occidental with P15.901 billion, Leyte with P13.541 billion, Palawan with P13.036 billion and Iloilo with P13.035 billion.

COA said the 2019 AFR summarized the financial statements of 1,653 local government units (LGUs) consisting of 79 provinces, 144 cities and 1,430 municipalities.

The total assets of LGUs climbed to P2.548 trillion from P2.092 trillion in 2018, the state regulator said.

The AFR aims to provide essential information on the financial condition, performance, changes in equity, cash flows and comparative budget and actual amount of LGUs and the local government sector as a whole, to a wide range of user and stakeholders.

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