SANTIAGO, May 7 (Reuters) – Policymakers at Chile’s central bank considered the option of raising interest rates at their April meeting amid global uncertainty stemming from the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, the meeting minutes showed on Thursday.
The bank’s board unanimously voted to hold borrowing costs at 4.5%, but for the second consecutive meeting some members indicated “there was reason to consider” the option of a 25-basis-point hike, the bank said.
All board members agreed that the prolongation of the war and its impact on oil and other commodity prices were increasing the risks to inflation and economic activity.
But “there was insufficient information to warrant a change in the strategy in place,” the bank added.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Natalia Ramos; Editing by Gabriel Araujo)
