KYIV, June 15 – Fitch Ratings has downgraded Ukraine-based electricity generation company DTEK Renewables B.V.'s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'B-' from 'B' and placed it on Rating Watch Negative (RWN), the agency said on its website.

"The downgrade reflects significantly reduced payment (by around 90%) by state-owned Guaranteed Buyer for renewable energy since March 2020, as all of the company's generated electricity is sold to it under approved regulated feed-in-tariffs (FiTs). It also incorporates our assumption of downward revision of FiTs for renewable generators, against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic and deterioration in Ukraine's economy, which we expect to shrink 6.5% in 2020, as well as a liquidity drain," it said.