General Motors has been told that any any loans it receives can only be spent in the country they are given to.

Governments outside the US have been wary money offered to GM's subsidiaries, such as Vauxhall in Britain and Opel in Germany, may be fed back to the  American company, reports The Times.

Therefore cash given to GM's parent firms outside the US has been ring fenced to ensure it only protects jobs within that country.

GM and Chrysler are banking on president elect Barack Obama, who enters the White House on January 20, to replace $17.4 billion worth of existing loans with longer-term federal asistance.