Some board members of Colombia’s central bank proposed cutting a benchmark interest rate by 25-50 basis points at a meeting in August, when the bank voted to keep the rate stable, according to minutes from the meeting released on Friday.
The minutes showed the bank’s board under more pressure to maintain its policy of trimming rates than in the bank’s July meeting, when only one member had proposed a rate cut. The bank also kept its rate stable at 4.5 percent in July.
An improving inflationary outlook had allowed Colombia’s central bank to cut its benchmark rate by 550 basis points since December. But some analysts see a lower consumer price trend ending in September as economic growth returns.
The market, on average, is expecting the first adjustment of the rate in April next year, according to a poll this week, with analysts seeing an increase of 25 basis points to 4.75 percent. But some experts say the bank could cut its rate again before then to 3.5 percent.