Investing.com - The pound was holding above the day’s lows against the dollar on Thursday after the Bank of England kept monetary policy unchanged in a unanimous vote.
GBP/USD was last at 1.4143 after falling to lows of 1.4091 earlier.
The pound had ticked lower ahead of the rate announcement following media reports that two policymakers could vote to cut interest rates at Thursday's meeting.
The BoE’s monetary policy committee held the benchmark interest rate at 0.5%, where it has been since March 2009.
All nine MPC members also unanimously agreed to make no changes to the central bank's £375 billion asset-purchase program.
The bank said there has been “mixed news” on the prospects for global growth, which it expects to remain “somewhat subdued”.
The minutes also noted that uncertainty over the June 23 referendum on Britain’s future in the European Union has begun to hit the economy.
The bank warned that Britain could be plunged into a long period of uncertainty in the event of a vote to leave the EU, which could also have significant implications for the exchange rate.
U.K. economic data will be difficult to assess until the June referendum is over the minutes said, but signaled that interest rates could have to be cut to fresh record lows, to fight off the threat of deflation.
“Ultimately, monetary policy would be set in order to meet the inflation target, while also ensuring that inflation expectations remained anchored. Whatever the outcome of the referendum, the MPC would use its tools to achieve its inflation remit.”
Sterling was also lower against the euro, with EUR/GBP up 0.31% to 0.7961.
In the euro zone, data on Thursday showed that inflation was flat in March, better than preliminary estimates for a decline of 0.1%.
The data boosted hopes the efforts by the European Central Bank to spur price growth are starting to take effect.