Chrysler Group and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne addresses the media during a visit to the Chrysler Jefferson North assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan April 28, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

CHICAGO, April 28 (Xinhua) — Chrysler Group LLC on Thursday announced that it plans to repay its 7.4 billion U.S. dollars of loans to the U.S. and Canadian governments by the end of June.

Chrysler said in a statement that it plans to repay its government loans with proceeds from new term loan and newly issued debt securities, which will be sold to institutional investors in a private offering, as well as the funds that it will receive from Fiat.

Italian automaker Fiat announced earlier that it plans to buy a 16 percent stake in Chrysler for 1.27 billion dollars.

Chrysler said that the completion of the term loans, debt offering and the equity investment by Fiat would occur concurrently.

“Chrysler has come a long way in a short time,” said Edmunds. com’s senior analyst Michelle Krebs in an e-mail to Xinhua, “Many thought the brand wouldn’t survive, but now it is gaining momentum with new models. The Chrysler 200 was the hit of the Super Bowl and gives Chrysler an entry to weather the current storm of high gas prices.”

The automaker’s senior executives will head out on a road show, primarily in North America, to visit potential investors and it will file a prospectus for an initial public offering at a later time.

Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009′s April amid financial crisis and formed an alliance with Fiat for survival.

Learn Chinese, Learn mandarin, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About Chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, HSK, HSK exam, Chinese Exam Preparation, China Business, China Travel, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing

U.S. economy expanded much slower in the first quarter this year, mainly reflecting government spending cut, reported the Commerce Department on Thursday.

U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — rose at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the January to March quarter of 2011, weaker than the pace of 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.

“The increase in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, exports, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from federal government spending and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased,” the department said in a report.

The deceleration in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected a sharp upturn in imports, a deceleration in PCE, a larger decrease in federal government spending, and decelerations in nonresidential fixed investment and in exports, noted the department.

On Wednesday the Federal Reserve lowered its growth estimate for the whole year to 3.1-3.3 percent, from its January projection of 3.4-3.9 percent.

Learn Chinese, Learn mandarin, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About Chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, HSK, HSK exam, Chinese Exam Preparation, China Business, China Travel, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing

China’s oil giant PetroChina Co. announced Wednesday that its net profits in the first quarter this year rose 13.9 percent year on year to 37 billion yuan (5.68 billion U.S. dollars).

Its earnings per share stood at 0.2 yuan, the company said in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

“In the first three months this year, the output of the company’s main products had grown steadily, contributing to the relatively strong business performance,” according to the statement.

Learn Chinese, Learn mandarin, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About Chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, HSK, HSK exam, Chinese Exam Preparation, China Business, China Travel, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing