BOGOTA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Colombia's central bank board on Friday decided to maintain the benchmark interest rate at the historic low of 1.75% for a fourth consecutive month in a majority vote during its first meeting of the year.
Five of the seven board members voted in favor of holding the rate and the decision was in line with market expectations. All 17 analysts surveyed by Reuters in a poll on Tuesday expecting the rate to be held.
Bank board chief Leonardo Villar insisted variance among directors was slight.
"The differences are marginal and they arise from different considerations about the risks associated with maintaining the interest rate or lowering it slightly," Villar said in a news conference.
Reasons behind the rate hold include inflation finishing 2020 at 1.61%, which is well below the bank's long-term target of 3%.
"Expectations remain stable and inflation of 2.7% is estimated for the end of 2021 and 3.1% by the end of 2022," the bank said in a statement.
"The outlook for the inflation trajectory in 2021 foresees low levels during the first quarter and a subsequent acceleration during the rest of the year," it added.
Colombia endured a more than five-month lockdown in 2020 as part of government steps to control the spread of coronavirus. The country's economy took a heavy hit, prompting the bank to cut 250 basis points from the rate between March and September.
Though recent indicators confirm economic recovery is underway, the bank warned threats from the pandemic still loom.
"The uncertainty associated with the economic effects of the outbreaks of the pandemic persists," it said.
As a result of such uncertainty - and amid a new wave of restrictions declared by local authorities in Colombia - the bank's technical team has revised its economic outlook, which will be published next week, Villar said, without hinting at what changes might include.
Before new lockdowns started in December, the central bank saw Colombia's economic growth of between 3% and 7% in 2021, compared with a contraction of between 6.5% to 9% in 2020. (Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra in Bogota; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Alison Williams)
