(Recasts, adds details from cenbank decision)

BUENOS AIRES, July 28 (Reuters) - Argentina's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by eight percentage points on Thursday to 60%, marking its seventh hike this year alone, in a renewed push to tame surging inflation as the country suffers a deepening economic crisis.

The so-called Leliq interest rate set by the country's monetary authority was previously at 52%, but analysts expect inflation could exceed 80% this year as the governing coalition is rocked by growing internal divisions over spending as well as the tightly-controlled exchange rate.

A benchmark interest rate above the inflation rate is one of the points agreed to between Argentina and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as part of the lender's $44 billion debt restructuring deal with the South American country that was finalized last March.

The central bank recently announced the implementation of an interest rate range to reach real positive interest rates for the economy. It currently stands at between 55% and 70%, according to economists and traders polled by Reuters. (Reporting by Walter Bianchi; Writing by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Christian Plumb and Alistair Bell)