LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England has kept its main interest rate on hold at 0.75% and warned that mounting fears of a no-deal Brexit at the end of October is increasingly weighing on the country’s short-term economic growth.
The decision, announced Thursday, was unanimous among the nine-member policymaking panel.
Minutes accompanying the decision showed that rate-setters think growth has slowed this year to a rate below potential, “reflecting both the impact of intensifying Brexit-related uncertainties on business investment and weaker global growth on net trade.”
Rate-setters said there was more evidence that Brexit uncertainty has become “more entrenched.”
The bank’s forecasts are conditioned on the assumption that Britain will leave the EU with a deal, smoothing its exit.
