A leading Bank of England economist says interest rates "could stay low for quite some time".

Kate Barker, one of the nine members of the interest rate-setting monetary policy committee (MPC), said there was still uncertainty about the future of the economy, despite tentative signs of recovery.

Ms Barker said she had come to Leicestershire to see how firms were doing and explain what the Bank was trying to do to help stimulate recovery. The MPC said last month it would keep the cost of borrowing unchanged at 0.5% – the third month in a row.

Policy makers have said the outlook for the economy is unclear despite some signs of recovery.

A recent survey on the service sector suggested recovery may be coming faster than expected, while UK house prices rose by 2.6% in May compared with April – the fastest rate of growth since 2002, according to the Halifax survey.

Among the companies visited by Ms Barker was manufacturing firm Lestercast, in Leicester.

Asked by the Leicester Mercury what her impression was of how firms in the county were doing, she said: "It's as I would have expected from the overall data.

"We're at a period where there are some things in the economy that are going a bit better and starting to turn up slightly.

"Some areas of retailing are still doing reasonably well and manufacturing orders are starting to come back, but whether that's a stocking issue or a turn up in final demand isn't so clear.

"I think there's a lot of concern about what's going to happen beyond this pick-up.

"The really important question is (whether) there's a pick up in the economy and if people can sustain that so it continues on to autumn.

"That would be one of the most encouraging signs."

She said the MPC members would not make forecasts about future interest rates, but added: "Our present view is that we think rates could stay low for quite some time.

"Of course, companies have talked, as you would expect, about the difficulties of getting bank finance.

"Some say it's been getting easier, some companies are still finding that quite difficult."

She said many firms were reluctant to lose staff during the downturn.

"A big question for a lot of companies is how they manage their workforce," she said. They're keeping people on short-time, there are periods of lower pay. They're very anxious not to shed employees."