* reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=cpurl://apps.cp./Apps/cb-polls?RIC=BRCBMP%3DECI poll data

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank is poised to hold its benchmark rate steady again on Wednesday but will likely emphasize the need for policy normalization in response to quickly developing inflation pressures, a Reuters poll showed.

It would be the fourth time the bank's rate-setting committee - known as Copom - leaves the Selic rate at 2.0%, a record low first set in August as the initial COVID-19 wave sank an already weak economy into a historic recession.

While all 32 economists in the survey saw no action in Copom's meeting next week, 25 who answered a separate question said unanimously the skew for Brazil's rates was tilted to the upside.

In contrast with previous months, the Jan. 11-14 poll showed zero replies for "neutral" or "downward" trends, following recent signs the bank may end its "forward guidance" of keeping the Selic low to restore growth.

In its rates decision last month, the bank gave the first sign it could soon drop its pledge to maintain an expansionary strategy for longer as expectations for gains in consumer prices converge toward target.

Annual inflation in Brazil finished 2020 at 4.5%, above the bank's central target as food costs rose the fastest in nearly two decades, more than offsetting weakness in other sectors heavily hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

"Conditions for maintaining the forward guidance may soon no longer be satisfied ... monetary policy will follow the prescription of the inflation targeting system," economists at 4intelligence consultancy in Sao Paulo wrote.

"Which does not mechanically imply an increase in the interest rate because the economic situation continues to prescribe an extraordinarily high stimulus under uncertainties regarding the evolution of activity."

Officials may step in more forcefully than previously thought, with an initial 75 basis point rate hike in the third-quarter, followed by similar moves in the fourth-quarter and in the first three months of 2022, the poll showed.

Only last month respondents forecast a milder tightening campaign, starting in the third-quarter with 50 basis points and raising the Selic just 100 points this year, 50 less than the total adjustment expected in the latest poll for 2021.

Economists will also be watching the bank's policy release for any comments on Brazil's deteriorated fiscal outlook, viewed as another possible driver for a more orthodox monetary stance, along with a volatile domestic currency.

(Reporting and polling by Gabriel Burin; additional polling by Jamie McGeever; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)