SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s nearly five-year bankruptcy battle has been resolved after a federal judge signed a plan that slashes the U.S. territory’s public debt load as part of a restructuring and allows the government to start repaying creditors.

The plan was approved Tuesday after the judge held heated hearings in recent months and as the island struggles to recover from deadly hurricanes, earthquakes and a pandemic that deepened its economic crisis.

A federal control board appointed to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances said the plan cuts Puerto Rico’s public debt by 80% and saves the government more than $50 billion in debt service payments.

"Today begins a new chapter in the history of PR (Puerto Rico). Today, PR can begin to move from fiscal instability and insolvency to a future of opportunity and growth," said a translation of a tweet from the Financial Oversight & Mgmt Board for Puerto Rico.

The plan marks the largest municipal debt restructuring in U.S. history.