Cash boost for General Motors

General Motors received its first multi-billion dollar loan instalment from the US Treasury Department, in time to avert a financial disaster in which the struggling carmaker may have been unable to sustain operations and pay suppliers.

Treasury spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin said in a written statement: “Treasury today finalised the loan transaction for GM and funded the first tranche of 4 billion US dollars.”

The funds are the first portion of €9.4bn (€6.7bn) in low-cost loans that GM is expected to receive from the government.