City workers cross the Millennium footbridge in the financial district of London, Britain January 7, 2016. REUTERS/Toby Melville

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British economic growth will slow sharply over the next two years as companies are likely to put investment on hold because of uncertainty over the outcome of Brexit negotiations with EU, the European Commission forecast on Thursday.

The Commission slashed its forecast for economic growth in Britain for this year to 1.5 percent from 1.8 percent projected earlier this year and forecast growth of 1.3 percent in 2018 and 1.1 percent in 2019, the year Britain leaves the European Union.

“Investment growth is forecast to weaken in 2018, as many firms are likely to continue deferring investments in the face of uncertainty,” the Commission said.

“Given the ongoing negotiation on the terms of the UK withdrawal from the EU, our projections for 2019 are based on a purely technical assumption of status quo in terms of trading relations between the EU27 and the UK,” it said.