Research by Reuters saw 48 of 63 industry economists plump for a rate cut off the back of these latest service sector findings, which in turn supported Bank of England data released last week indicating that current tight lending conditions are on track to worsen.
The 15 economists taking a more cautious approach all agreed that the Bank would hold off in April but act to cut rates once again in May.
The research marks a swift reversal of the opinions of UK economists after figures which emerged a little more than a fortnight ago showed less than 40 per cent (22 out of 56) believed that an April cut was on the cards.
Speaking to Reuters, Matthew Sharratt, an economist at Bank of America, explained: "We had previously argued that the Bank of England would wait until May before cutting rates again due to concerns about inflation, but with the repo rate currently still slightly restrictive at 5.25 per cent ... there seems little need to delay an already impending rate cut."
Economic conditions coupled with any quarterly reports due for publication in the next few days will play a key part in the outcome of Thursday's decision, as will the rate of inflation which was significantly above target at 2.5 per cent in February.
