GM may need to raise $US7.3b  to pay its bills

General Motors, the biggest US automaker, will probably need $US7.3 billion of fresh capital to pay its bills through 2009, Lehman Brothers said.

GM may ''burn through'' $US6.9 billion of cash in the second half of 2008 and another $US4.4 billion next year, according to the ''base case'' of Lehman analyst Brian Johnson. If a worldwide economic slowdown causes auto sales to stall in the US and fall by 10% in the rest of the world, GM may use an additional $US4.9 billion of cash through 2009, forcing the company to raise as much as $US12.2 billion, Johnson wrote in a note.

Ford, GM's smaller rival, probably won't need to raise more capital through 2010, Johnson said.

''We continue to believe that Ford presents the stronger liquidity position to survive through 2010 without the need to raise external capital,'' the New York-based analyst wrote. GM ''is more vulnerable to a global macro slowdown.' Bloomberg