Debt payments of developing countries exceed their national revenue. Even though external debt is crippling economies in the global South, neither the financial and economic reform policies (structural reforms) advocated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank nor the developing countries as a geo-political bloc have responded sufficiently to address the crisis at hand. While the structural reforms advocated by IMF and the World Bank have become counterproductive, isolated responses of the developing countries to their respective debt crises have impeded a collaborated and coordinated strategy to hold international financial institutions like the IMF and the World Bank responsible and address the escalation of debt distress in developing countries following the interest rate hikes in the US and EU, Ukraine-Russia war and the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e. the New Debt Crisis.

The absence of an informed collective response vis-à-vis the external debt problem is more palpable in South Asia compared to Latin America or Africa. This article is a preliminary attempt to bridge the gap by analysing South Asia’s debt crisis. While contextualising the new debt crisis affecting South Asian countries, I argue that cultural explanations of the debt crisis of developing countries, undermining the political economy dimension of corruption, have not just diverted our attention away from addressing the structural weaknesses of the South Asian economies, making us accept poison as medicine.  They have also stopped us from holding the IMF and the World Bank responsible for failing to ensure the stability of the global financial order, particularly in the interests of developing countries.