The minutes from the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee''s (MPC''s) latest meeting have been published.

They show that MPC members voted 7-2 in favour of maintaining the base rate of interest, with two members voting for a reduction.

Many analysts now believe that the slight split in opinion, with a leaning towards a reduction, will lead to the MPC announcing a cut in April.

Charles Davis, economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), said that he expects rates to fall steadily until the end of 2008.

"With the worsening financial market conditions and evidence that average earnings growth remains moderate, the likelihood of a 25 basis point April rate cut has increased significantly," he commented.

"We expect interest rates to reach 4.5 per cent by the end of 2008," added Mr Davis.

Global Insight has supported this view and said that the MPC may be forced to act in April, even if it would rather not.

In addition, it anticipates seeing the base rate fall to four per cent by the halfway point of 2009.