Firms urge Bank to hold rate

Date: 4th February 2009

The Bank of England should resist temptation to cut interest rates any further this week, according to British small businesses.

Tomorrow (February 5th) will see the Bank make this month's base rate decision, with analysts widely predicting a 50 basis point reduction.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has urged the Bank to reconsider, instead claiming more should be done to force lenders to increase access to finance.

National chairman of the FSB, John Wright, said: "Small businesses are clearly worried that this monetary policy has been used extensively over the last few months, yet they are still struggling to access cheaper finance.

"The concern now is that if rates are cut any further there may not be too much more room for manoeuvre in the economy."

The FSB estimates that Monday's arctic weather cost the British economy almost £1.2 billion, as more than six million workers stayed at home.