OREANDA-NEWS. February 11, 2015. Peru's central bank will likely hold its benchmark interest rate at 3.25 percent on Thursday as it expects economic growth to rebound and the currency to continue weakening, a majority of analysts polled by Reuters said.

Nine out of 12 foreign and local economists surveyed said the central bank would leave the key rate unchanged after lowering it in January to spur growth.

The remaining three analysts forecast a 0.25 percent rate cut to help the economy recover from its worst slowdown in five years.

The president of the central bank shrugged off worries about growth last week and told Reuters he did not see the need for "very aggressive monetary easing," especially as the sol trades at a nearly six-year low.

A lower interest rate would likely stoke even more demand for dollars amid expectations that the Federal Reserve will start raising interest rates mid-year.

The central bank said the sol's depreciation kept it from cutting the interest rate in December.

The sol , which weakened by more than 6 percent last year, closed at a new low in nearly six years on Tuesday despite the central bank's sale of \\$200 million in the local spot market - its biggest intervention in three months.

The central bank has tightened rules on currency derivatives in a bid to curb speculation that it says has been driving the sol's slide.

Peru's economy has been growing at its weakest pace since 2009, but the central bank expects a strong recovery to take root in the second quarter.

Gross domestic product rose 2.5 percent in all but the last month of 2014, following growth rates that tended to top 6 percent amid a mining boom over the previous decade.

Growth data for December is scheduled for publication February 16.

The central bank has said it expects inflation to ease into its 1-3 percent target range this month and to approach its goal of 2 percent mid-year.

The annual inflation rate cooled to 3.07 percent in January - still slightly above the central bank's 3 percent target ceiling.