Mubasher: The Bank of England (BOE) on Thursday decided to hold its key interest rate at its current level.

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

In August 2018, the BOE raised the interest rates by 25 basis points (bps), to their highest level since March 2009.

“UK economic growth slowed in late 2018 and appears to have weakened further in early 2019,” the BOE statement said.

“This slowdown mainly reflects softer activity abroad and the greater effects from Brexit uncertainties at home,” the central bank added.

The BOE now expects 1.2% growth this year, down from the previous forecast of 1.7% three months ago.

This marked the biggest downgrade since the 2016 Brexit referendum.

“Global growth is expected to dip below trend in coming quarters, weighing on UK net trade, before rising to around potential rates,” the BOE said, noting that the world economy extended a slowdown over recent months.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May is in Brussels to press European Union (EU) leaders to provide legally binding changes to the Brexit deal, formally known as the Withdrawal Agreement.

Premier May seeks changes to the Irish backstop arrangement, which was rejected in the UK parliament.

As both sides are still negotiating the transition agreement, investor worries are mounting over the spectre of the UK’s abrupt departure from the EU without a deal.

In this case, the BOE said it would weigh interest rate hike to curb a probable decline in the value of sterling pound.

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 ($559.63 billion).

By 12:37 pm GMT, the GBP/USD pair fell 0.36% to $1.2885, while the EUR/GBP pair rose 0.14% to GBP 0.8799.