In November 2020, Zambia defaulted on its international debt, the first African country to do so since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article criticizes the IMF’s attribution of the default to Zambia’s mismanagement and corruption. We present an alternative structural explanation, which ties the crisis to Zambia’s adoption of neoliberal policies, its extractive colonial style economy, and a problematic global financial architecture that pressures Zambia to accumulate U.S. dollars. Debt crises are likely to reoccur as long as the IMF and the governments that receive their loans continue to misinterpret the causes of financial crises like the one Zambia is experiencing. […]