Chile Holds At 5%

Chile’s Central Bank has held the benchmark overnight lending rate at 5%, saying it did not see growing inflationary pressures. The bank conceded that headline inflation was in the upper half of the target range, but pointed out that underlying, core inflation lay in the center of the range. Last month the Bank raised the rate by quarter of a percentage point to curb inflation. Meanwhile, analysts pointed to slower-than-expected growth in the first quarter of the year.