The Bank of England''s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is coming under increasing pressure to cut the base rate of interest.

Howard Archer, economist at Global Insight, said that he expects interest rates to be reduced "sooner rather than later".

However, he said that it is unlikely that a reduction will be announced in May.

Having said that, he did not completely rule out a cut this month and said that a June reduction is very likely.

"An interest rate cut from five per cent to 4.75 per cent is certainly possible at the Bank of England''s [meeting] next Thursday, but we suspect that most MPC members would prefer to delay acting until June given current elevated inflation risks," commented Mr Archer.

"However, further weak data next week could yet trigger an interest rate cut on Thursday," he added.

The base rate of interest has been cut three times since December 2007.