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http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/19/r...n-full-on-wed/

Report: GM to announce repayment of federal loans in full on Wednesday

by Jeremy Korzeniewski (RSS feed) on Apr 19th 2010 at 6:00PM

According to The Detroit News, General Motors will announce that it is fully repaying the federal loans it received last summer from both the United States and Canadian governments. In total, General Motors will have paid back about $6.7 billion ($2 billion of which has already been returned) of the $50 billion it received from the U.S., the majority of which was recovered by acquiring a 61-percent share of the automaker.

For those keeping track of such things and assuming this report is accurate, GM will have paid the entire amount agreed upon with the U.S. Treasury a full two months earlier than anticipated. This accelerated schedule is said to be seen as good news by both the automaker and the federal government. We'd guess that this is also a sign that GM is likely still on track for an initial public offering sometime this year.

GM CEO Ed Whitacre is expected to make the announcement on Wednesday when he makes a speech at a GM plant in Kansas. Later that day, Whitacre will make his first appearance at Capitol Hill since taking over at the head of the company in January. For what it's worth, the automaker has also called a press conference on Wednesday that we'll be attending. Stay tuned.

[Source: Detroit News | Image: Bill Pugliano/Getty]