contingent liability

American  

noun

1. a liability dependent upon the occurrence of a particular event, as default by the maker of a guaranteed loan.

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Example Sentences

Last December, in a report, the IMF flagged India's "elevated public debt levels and contingent liability risks".

From BBC • May 8, 2024

“Ex-Im is a smaller one. … We should find ways to lessen the contingent liability of the federal government.”

From Slate • Mar. 2, 2015

From the outset, it seemed curious that any businessman would buy a business facing a potential and widely reported £49m contingent liability if it was defeated in a tax tribunal.

From The Guardian • Feb. 13, 2012

In effect, a financial system with dangerously low capital levels creates a nontransparent contingent liability for the U.S. budget through the fall in GDP and loss of tax revenue.

From BusinessWeek • Aug. 1, 2011

This amount, therefore, was not a burden on the state, provided the railroad remained solvent; though in form a direct, it was virtually a contingent liability.

From The Reconstruction of Georgia Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, Vol. 13, No. 3, 1901 by Woolley, Edwin C.