LONDON, Jan 31 Reuters Sterling slipped to a one week low against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, ahead of the Bank of England39;s expected 10th consecutive interest rate hike, and as the International Monetary Fund warned about Britain39;s economic outlook.

The Bank of England BoE is expected to raise its interest rates by half a percentage point to 4 on Thursday in a week packed with central bank decisions, with the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank ECB expected to hike interest rates on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Adding to the downbeat sentiment, Britain was the only Group of Seven nation to suffer a cut to its 2023 economic growth outlook by the International Monetary Fund IMF on Tuesday.

The pound was down 0.3 to 1.2314 against the dollar at 1150 GMT, but was still on course for its fourth consecutive monthly gain, up 1.8 against the greenback in January.

It was slightly softer against the euro, down 0.1 at 87.94 pence, not too far from a onemonth high against the single currency hit earlier this month. .

The BoE meeting on Thursday is containing any large moves in sterling at the moment. But today39;s data will certainly not have inspired much confidence in the outlook for the UK economy going forward, and I think this is weighing on the pound, said Stuart Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital.

Markets are currently placing a 84 chance of a 50 basis point rate hike at Thursday39;s BoE meeting.

ING strategists said they…