Sir Alan Budd, former chief economic adviser, HM Treasury

I believe that the interest rate should be left at 0.5%. I think it is still too early to see whether the asset purchases are having the desired effect on the money supply or on nominal GDP. I believe that the MPC should announce that the third tranche of the QE programme (a third purchase of £25 billion) will go ahead. It should also announce that there will be a further purchase of £20 or £25 billion in June, bringing the total to £100 billion. Thereafter the decision should be taken month by month, depending on the economic news.

Bronwyn Curtis, head of global research, HSBC

At the current rate of £6.5 billion bond purchases per week, the £75 billion Asset Purchase Facility announced in March will be completed by early June. To communicate the strategy clearly, the MPC should announce its future plans at this meeting. The early signs on the effectiveness of quantitative easing are tentatively encouraging but it has not yet achieved its goals and this meeting should confirm that they are extending the programme to the £150 billion that has been pre-authorised.

Longer-term yields have risen, even if they are still remarkably low given the horrendous news on gilt issuance that emerged from the Budget. Inflation expectations have risen and household and business confidence has improved. Money growth and bank lending, on the other hand, is still contracting.

I wouldn't change the focus of the QE programme in the early stages as there is already enough uncertainty about the current approach. I think buying risk-free assets and letting market participants choose risky assets as they search for yield is the most efficient way of achieving the goals of QE at this point.

I would not make any changes to rates or any statement about possible future changes while QE is being undertaken. The focus should remain on QE and being transparent as possible about the process and its impact.

Geoffrey Dicks, former chief UK economist, RBS Global Markets

I would leave things on hold this month. There is no point in cutting Bank Rate further and the QE programme is still in its early stages and has another month to run. It may be, come June, that more is needed but I would get the QIR out of the way first and give some insight into the MPC's thinking before embarking on any further measures — especially as there are tentative signs that we are through the worst.

Professor Charles Goodhart, former external member of the Bank of England MPC and LSE economics don

It is, of course, very early days, but the data so far suggests that quantitative easing has NOT yet been working. The March figures for broad money holdings of private non-financial corporations show another decline, and are still negative on an annual basis. The monetary holdings of the household sector are still growing anaemically at about 4 per cent per annum, on both a monthly and an annual basis, when the target rate of growth should be about 8 per cent. Bank lending to non-financial corporations is still declining with an annual rate of growth of less than 3 per cent, and unused credit lines are being cut back sharply. Lending to the household sector is also still going down (see Table A4.1 in Monetary and Financial Statistics, April 2009). This means that quantitative easing is being operated against strong head winds. It needs to be extended and expanded. The amount spent should be doubled on a monthly basis from now on from £25 billion to £50 billion per month, and if possible more ought to be directed to purchase of private sector assets rather than public sector assets.

There is no useful benefit to be gained from lowering Bank Rate from its present level. Given how uncertain the future is, I would be disinclined to give hostages to fortune by providing any indication of the length of time that either quantitative easing will be necessary, or for which the present low level of rates need to be held.

Anatole Kaletsky, chief economics commentator, The Times

The QE programme has been successful, although some of the short-term market management could have been handled better, and should be continued at the present rate. The MPC should also state that bond purchases will continue at the current rate until there are clear signs of recovery in bank lending and economic growth. The MPC should make clear that the plan to buy £75 billion of bonds is not a celiing and bond purchases will continue up to the £150 billion limit currently agreed with the Treasury and possibly beyond.

The decision to end bond purchases should be made on the basis of economic evidence, not any arbitrary numerical limits.

Bank Rate should remain at 0.5% for the foreseeable future — and it would be helpful if the MPC indicated, as the Fed has done, that interest rates will remain extremely low as long as there is a large output gap and no signs of inflation.

Rupert Pennant-Rea, former Bank of England Deputy Governor; Chairman, Henderson plc

There are encouraging signs that banks are now starting to live up to their name, and the debt markets are looking generally healthier. There are also small straws in the wind that the decline in economic activity is slowing down, though of course this will not prevent a continuing sharp rise in unemployment.

Since everybody is to some extent flying blind at the moment, I feel that this is a month to retain the existing monetary stance. On QE, I would prefer to wait and see before making any change, though I hope the Bank is considering widening the range of assets that it is prepared to buy. If it decides to extend the QE total in due course, more asset diversity would be helpful.

As for interest rates I would prefer to keep the last remains of a positive interest rate in reserve, in case a cut is needed later in the year. For now, I see no reason to reduce rates or to start increasing them. My vote: no change.

Sir Steve Robson, former Second Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury

No change in rates. I do not se a case for further reduction.

On QE I do not think the Bank are targeting this well. It appears that the bulk of the money it has spent to date has gone to overseas sellers of gilts. This will not be doing much to improve credit conditions in the UK. The Bank needs to do two things.

First, switch its purchases to UK corporate bonds and so directly address credit conditions in that market.

Second, give a clear assessment of how, and in what circumstances, it will start to reverse QE and its other liquidity measures. It is important that it creates confidence that it has an exit strategy which will not fuel inflation.

Sushil Wadhwani, former external member, Bank of England MPC

No change for this month.

Martin Weale, Director, National Institute of Economic and Social Research

The programme of quantitative easing needs to focus much more on the purchase of private sector assets. In 1985 the Bank owned £15 billion of private sector paper. Adjusting for the scale of the economy that is equivalent to £75 billion in today's terms. Buying a total of £75 billion of commercial paper would do much more to help the economy than buying in more gilts because it will provide extra credit to businesses at the same time as raising the money stock. As it stands the policy risks going the same way as the VAT reduction — big enough for people to notice but not big enough to have a clear impact.

I see no point in a further change to interest rates.

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