Renault's recently obtained 5 billion euros (£4.5 billion) loan backed by the French state will help improve the group's treasury situation, tiding the group over in June and July, Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard said on Thursday.

The loan, which is handled by commercial banks and guaranteed by the government, was meant as a safety net and would be repaid very quickly it Renault ever drew upon it, Senard said.

"The coronavirus pandemic created some major treasury issues," Senard told a hearing in the lower house of the French parliament.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume and Sarah White; editing by Jason Neely)