In its January monetary policy meeting, the Board of the Central Bank of Chile decided to reduce the country's benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, to 5%. This is the first time the rate has been lowered since August 2009.

"Internationally, the advanced economies are growing slowly, although some economic indicators in the US have shown signs of improvement, while emerging market economies continue decelerating," said the board in a statement released after the decision was announced.