Between 2000 and 2008, Jamaica experienced its most sustained period of economic expansion in a generation, driven by tourism, foreign investment and diaspora remittances. Yet the gleaming resort corridors of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios coexisted with a public debt burden approaching 127% of GDP, two catastrophic hurricanes within three years, and a violent crime rate that quietly shaped every decision about where Jamaicans chose to live, build and invest.
