A foreign loan, normally to a less developed country (LDC), which has to be spent on goods and services from the lender. This is contrasted with an untied loan, which can be spent in any way. A tied loan may be of less value than an untied loan of equal size, as the tying restricts the choices open to the borrower, though where the borrower imports a lot from the lender in any case, tying may not be effective. As tied loans reduce the danger that making them may cause balance-of-payments problems for the lender, more loans may be available if they are made on a tied basis.

• leading indicator
• leads and lags
• leakages from the circular flow of incomes
• learning by doing
• lease
• leasehold
• leasing
• least-developed countries
• least squares
• least-squares regression
• legal tender
• leisure
• lemon
• lender of last resort
• lending, property
• lending rate, minimum
• Leontief paradox
• Lerner
• less developed country
• leverage
• leveraged buy-out
• levy, capital
• levy, import
• liabilities
• liability