The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee will announce tomorrow whether the cost of borrowing will remain at five per cent over the next month.
An online poll carried out by the M.E.N. earlier this week showed that 61 per cent of respondents want to see a cut to interest rates immediately to provide some relief in the economic downturn.
The remaining 39 per cent said that they want the rate to remain the same.
Earlier this week, this paper reported that the Greater Manchester Chamber had joined EEF, the manufacturers' organisation in the region, in calling for the rate cut.
Now both of the north west branches of the Confederation for British Industry (CBI) and the Institute of Directors (IoD) have also expressed their concerns about the scale of the downturn we are now witnessing both in Manchester and across the country.
Darrell Matthews, north west regional director for the Institute of Directors, said: "We're seeing once in a generation economic events which now require a radical response.
"Over the past month the downward forces on inflation have intensified.
"We do not believe the Bank of England would be taking risks with inflation if it reduced interest rates by at least half a per cent.
"Beyond the short-term we have crossed over from inflation to deflation as the most significant risk factor."
Damian Waters, regional director CBI north west, said: "We are also calling for a half per cent cut to the interest rates on Thursday.
"We have turmoil in the market at the moment and a cut to the interest rates would help stabilise this.
"We also hope that there will be another interest rate cut before Christmas."
National business leaders piled on the pressure for a deep rate cut. Virgin billionaire Sir Richard Branson called on the MPC to slash rates as much as one per cent when it votes tomorrow.
Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of the Centre for Business and Economics Research, said: "With the UK economy almost certainly already in recession, the MPC should follow the Australians' lead and cut base rates by around one per cent.
"They could show the markets that they grasp the urgency of the situation if they do it on Wednesday rather than waiting for a day."
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