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DETROIT — Ed Whitacre, chairman and chief executive officer of General Motors, said late last week that his company plans to make its second quarterly loan payment to the U.S. Treasury and Export Development Canada on Wednesday, ahead of schedule.

More specifically, Whitacre said, "In keeping with our commitments to the U.S. and Canadian and Ontario taxpayers, GM plans to make its second quarterly loan payment of approximately $1 billion to the U.S. Treasury and $192 million (USD) to Export Development Canada on March 31.

"While we have more work to do, GM is building high-quality, award-winning vehicles; our direction is clear and our plan is working. Given the progress the company is making, GM has every confidence that the remainder of the loans will be paid in full by June 2010, five years ahead of schedule," he concluded.