Chile key rate seen steady at 3pc over next year: central bank poll

SANTIAGO: Chile's key interest rate is seen remaining at its current 3.0 percent over at least the next year, including at Thursday's monetary policy meeting, according to most of the 62 traders surveyed in a central bank poll published on Wednesday.

The bank cut the interest rate 200 basis points between October 2013 and October 2014 to stimulate Chile's flagging economy but has said it wants to wait for inflation to cool before easing any further.

Consumer prices in Chile are expected to rise 0.2 percent in February and stand at an annualized 2.94 percent in 12 months, traders said.

Inflation in the 12 months to January was 4.5 percent, still well above the central bank's 2 percent to 4 percent target range.