OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings has launched a five report series covering corporate credit trends within Latin America with an Outlook Report for Brazil. One report will be released each day through Aug. 21 per the schedule found at the bottom of this release.

'Brazilian corporates remain on the ropes. Approximately one of every four Brazilian corporates has a negative rating bias,' said Ricardo Carvalho, Senior Director at Fitch. 'Downgrades are projected to outpace upgrades by a ratio of more than five times in the second half of 2015. This would continue a trend that seen the downgrade of 19 issuers during the first half of the year.'

Corporate debt levels are projected to level off during 2015. Management teams have slashed capex and reduced merger and acquisition activity in response to the dire economic situation. The median cash flow burn was only 1% of revenues during 2014. This was the lowest level recorded by Brazilian corporates since 2010.

Weak operating cash flows, however, will result in growth of leverage metrics. Fitch projects that corporate operating cash flows will decline for the fifth consecutive year as high inflation, increasing interest rates and rising unemployment stifle consumer sentiment and economic activity.

Fitch's Five Report Outlook series will be released one report per day as follows:

Aug. 17: Brazil Corporate Outlook Update -- Dark Days to Continue
Aug. 18: Chile Corporate Outlook Update - Challenges Persist
Aug. 19: Colombia Corporate Outlook Update - Resilient Credit Quality
Aug. 20: Mexico Corporate Outlook Update - Slow but Steady
Aug. 21: Peru Corporate Outlook Update -- Facing Hard Times
For Brazilian special report titled 'Dark Days to Continue' is available on the Fitch Ratings web site at www.fitchratings.com.