国际英语新闻：U.S. automaker GM speeds up repayment of loans to taxpayers

CHICAGO, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. automaker General Motors Co. is expected to announce that it will begin repaying its 6.7 billion dollars in government loans ahead of schedule, official sources said on Monday.

    The repayment is a sure sign that the Detroit automaker's finances are improving since its exit from bankruptcy protection on July 10.

    But GM officials admitted the company also will continue to face significant challenges, especially in North America and Europe, where it is still losing money.

    GM's board of directors and the U.S. Treasury approved the repayment plan that will begin with a 1 billion dollar payment on Dec. 31, sources with knowledge of the plan said.

    GM will make payments of about 1 billion every quarter, at least until the second half of 2010, the earliest that it plans an initial public stock offering.

    GM also will make 200 million dollars of quarterly payments to the Canadian national and Ontario provincial governments against its 1.4-billion-dollar debt. The schedule means that at a minimum, GM will have repaid about half of its debt before it goes public.

    The automaker received 49.9 billion dollars from a federal government bailout, with 13.4 billion dollars from the Bush administration, and the rest infused by the Obama administration, which forced the company into bankruptcy in June.

    GM had been required to repay the loans by July 2015. GM's early payments were prompted by the company's desire to show taxpayers it is eager to make good on its covenant with them, and convince them to try GM vehicles again, or for the first time.

    GM's chief financial officer said in July that the company was considering issuing new shares of stock in 2010 to pay off some of the debt.