WASHINGTON: General Motors Co announced yesterday it plans to start repaying a $6.7 billion loan to the US Treasury by year-end due to modest operating improvements, a source knowledgeable about the situation said.

GM, which unveiled its first post-bankruptcy earnings report yesterday, will begin making $1 billion quarterly installments on the loan on Dec 31. At the same time, the automaker also will start repaying a $1.4 billion loan to Canada at a rate of $200 million per quarter.

GM was not required to make any payments on the US loan before it matured in July 2015, but better-than-expected vehicle sales will let it start repayments much sooner than expected.