Peru's central bank (BCRP) Thursday decision is bound to surprise a decent share of economists, regardless of whether officials decide to cut 25bps or leave the reference rate unchanged at 5.00%, said Scotiabank.

BCRP is slated to release its policy statement at 5 p.m. ET Thursday.

Of the 11 that submitted their calls to Bloomberg, seven penciled in a 25bps cut while four are calling for an unchanged rate. Scotiabank believes that the BCRP will choose to keep settings unchanged, though consumer price index data released last week may have increased the odds of a cut on Thursday.

December CPI decently undershot economists' forecasts, printing a 1.97% year-over-year rise compared with a 2.20% median projection -- 0.11% actual versus 0.30% m/m median.

On the other hand, the BCRP highlighted in its Dec. 20 Inflation Report that the real policy rate -- 2.55% at the time -- was closing in on the real neutral rate of 2.0%, suggesting there's no rush to cut the reference rate so soon, stated the bank.

Officials may also choose to wait to get a better sense of the impact of the United States trade policy under President Trump on the global economy and markets, added Scotiabank.