GM pays back government loans

General Motors Co. said it has repaid the U.S. and Canadian governments $5.8 billion for loans that helped fund the U.S. automaker last year.

GM owed the U.S. government about $4.7 billion and the Canadian government, $1.1 billion. The automaker emerged from bankruptcy last July.

"Our ability to pay back these loans less than a year after emerging from bankruptcy is a sign our plan for building a new GM is working," GM CEO Ed Whitacre said in an opinion piece in Wednesday's edition of the Wall Street Journal.

GM had a good sales month in March, recording an increase of 33,000 units.

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