Mubasher: The Bank of England (BOE) on Thursday announced that it maintained its key interest rate unchanged.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) agreed unanimously on holding the rate at 0.75%, with a 9-0 vote.

Last August, the BOE rate-setters raised the interest rates by 25 basis points (bps).

The MPC also voted unanimously to maintain the stock of government bond purchases, financed by the issuance of the central bank reserves, at GBP 435 billion ($562.45 billion).

“The global economy continues to grow at above potential rates, supporting UK net trade,” the BOE said.

Nevertheless, the central bank expressed its concerns that trade conflicts could escalate, hurting the global economy.

“Global financial conditions have tightened, particularly in emerging market economies, and activity has slowed in the euro area, [while] trade restrictions have increased and there is a risk of further escalation,” it noted.

The MPC updated its forecasts for inflation and growth, saying that consumer prices are “projected to remain above the target for most of the forecast period, before reaching 2% by the end of the third year.”

By 12:25 pm GMT, the GBP/USD pair jumped 1.27% to $1.2928, while the EUR/GBP pair declined 0.47% to GBP 0.8820.