Chile cbank to act on rates if demand spikes: board member

SANTIAGO, April 15 (Reuters) - Chile's central bank is ready
to intensify monetary policy moves to contain inflation if
demand picks up more than expected, bank board member Enrique
Marshall said in an interview published on Sunday.

Chile's central bank is seen holding its key interest rate
steady at 5.0 percent at its next rate-setting
meeting on Tuesday, and for the following two months, before
hiking it to 5.25 percent within six months, according to the
central bank's fortnightly poll of traders published on
Wednesday.

As a slowdown in Chile's small, export-dependent economy has
been more moderate than expected, markets now see rate hikes
later this year rather than cuts they had forecast just a couple
of months ago.

"Our vision is that (output) gaps are closed and that the
economy will grow in a range of 4-5 percent, which implies
growth slightly below trend and which does not require a
different monetary policy approach from our base scenario,"
Marshall told El Mercurio's Sunday edition.

"Of course, if a risk scenario of more dynamic-than-forecast
demand materializes, then that would require more intense policy
actions with the aim of ensuring the pace of inflation does not
accelerate."

Chilean inflation slowed in March and economic activity was
firm in February, data showed last week, suggesting the central
bank will hold rates steady in coming months as it weighs global
economic risks against better-than-expected domestic data.

The central bank cut rates for the first time in 2-1/2 years
in January on fears that demand in Europe and top trading
partner China would turn sluggish and hit the export-dependent
country.

In its latest quarterly monetary policy report issued last
week, the bank hiked its 2012 inflation expectations to 3.5
percent from a previous 2.7 percent view and upwardly revised
its gross domestic product growth forecast to a range of 4.0 to
5.0 percent this year, up from a previous forecast of a 3.75 to
4.75 percent range.

(Writing Simon Gardner; Editing by Eric Beech)