Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask but I was wondering if money reserves will/has some use for your country? The only thing I can think of is if the global economy takes a hit and you need backup money.
I was thinking it could be used with foreign aid and investments for your country as a reward for paying off the debt.
Maybe in the policies section there are certain actions that cost a lot of money that could only be done if you have reserves in your country.
Examples: You could get other country’s you take loans from you and get them into your debt. You could invest into projects or policies outside of your country.
Relating to foreign relations you could be permitted to build things in other countries that could help you in the long run. E.G: Building a massive highway in a country next to your own, making it easier to transport goods into your country and helping the GDP
The only real use for reserves at the minute is as a bit of a safety net in case like you said the global economy takes a hit, then you’d use these up before accumulating a debt (when you run a deficit each turn it detracts from your reserves until it becomes a debt, which you then have to pay interest on,
Debt is a weird one for countries as for many it’s basically seen as a non issue (or one to kick down the line for future generations), many of the major infrastructure developments you’ve mentioned occur in countries with very sizeable national debts, owed to different countries and to their own (In the UK most of our debt is owed to pension funds, banks and other financial institutions).
Obviously it’s a very complex issue and games often demand a simple one to keep it fun. I feel thats the best way to explain it with my v limited knowledge of economics
Nationalisation requires a lump buy-in, and if you’ve got the money to spare, why not foot the bill and ensure a more optimally regulated set of systems?