Canada's central bank announced Wednesday it was keeping its key lending rate unchanged at 1.75 percent, pointing to slower than expected global economic growth. The bank, which last raised the rate in October, said in a statement that "an accommodative policy interest rate continues to be warranted," as it scales back its estimate for Canadian economic growth in 2019 to 1.2 percent from 1.7 percent in January.

The revision follows the sudden slowdown in the Canadian economy at the end of last year, with a 0.4 annualized rate increase in the fourth quarter and disappointing early 2019 results.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019