The Bank of England (BoE) released its quarterly inflation report on Thursday. The central bank downgraded its growth forecasts. The economy is expected to expand 2.2% in 2016, down from its previous forecast of a 2.5% rise, and 2.3% in 2017, down from its previous forecast of a 2.6% gain.

"The MPC judges the risks to the central projection to be skewed a little to the downside in the near term, reflecting the possibility of greater persistence of low inflation," the central bank said.

The BoE said that inflation in the U.K. will remain below 1% through 2016. The BoE noted that inflation is expected to rise modestly in the coming months.