Imagine you owe people a lot of money, and it’s not just the amount you borrowed that’s the problem, it’s the interest you have to pay on top of it.

This interest makes your debt even bigger and harder to handle. To make it even worse, the interest you pay is much higher than what others would pay because the people you borrowed from were not confident that you could repay them in full and on time, so they charged you more to compensate for the additional risk involved in lending you money.

This debt makes it hard to afford the things you need, like a good education for your children or quality health care for your family. It feels like a heavy burden on your shoulders.

Now think of Jamaica as a country with a similar problem. For years Jamaica had a massive debt that was holding the country back. It was like a financial weight, making it difficult for the Government to provide essential services and opportunities for its people.

For every dollar we earned, we owed almost $2. This meant that we had to borrow more money just to cover our day-to-day expenses because all the money we earned had to go into paying back debt. This created a vicious cycle and the financial weight was very easy to put on and much harder to take off over time.

But here’s the good news: Jamaica has worked hard to reduce that debt and take it off. We’ve made smart financial choices and cut down our debt from being really high (147 per cent of what we earn) to much lower and more manageable (74 per cent of what we earn). We managed to reduce our debt by half in just 10 years. This is a big deal because it’s like paying off a chunk of your own personal debt. It means Jamaica has more money to spend on important things, like improving schools, hospitals, and creating jobs.

So what does this mean for you, the average Jamaican?

It means better services. With less money tied up in debt repayments, the Government can invest more in upgrading social services, such as health care, housing, education, and infrastructure. Your children can get a better education, your family can access better health care, and we can all drive on more and better roads. There is also more money to buy buses and garbage trucks and to build more houses, schools, hospitals, bridges, and ensure all our communities have adequate light and water.

It means more stable prices. Reducing debt can also help to control inflation. When prices rise more slowly over a longer period of time, your money can buy more for longer, making it easier to make ends meet.

It means lower cost of loans. When we pay our debts on time and in full, people are more willing to lend money to us because they are confident they will get repaid. Therefore, we are able to get access to better loans with lower interest rates for cars, houses, and small businesses.

It means a secure future. By managing debt wisely, Jamaica is ensuring a more stable and prosperous future. This means you can have the confidence that Jamaica is moving on the right track.

Paying down our debt is a national effort. We have all had an important part to play and now we are starting to see some fruits bear as a result. Jamaica’s debt is at its lowest in an entire generation – all of 25 years. During those 25 years we were not able to do as much as we wanted because of the debt constraint. But now, with most of that debt off, we can do even more going forward.

Let us continue to celebrate this achievement so that future generations can start off with a clean slate in their development and ensure a brighter future for us all.

Sujae Boswell holds an MSc in International Public and Development Management and is an adjunct lecturer at the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean.