British interest rates could stay low for some time and it is still not clear whether the pick-up in the economy will prove durable, Bank of England policymaker Kate Barker said yesterday. "Our present view is that we think rates could stay low for quite some time," she was quoted as saying on the Leicester Mercury's website. "The really important question is [whether] there is a pick up in the economy and if people can sustain that so it continues on to autumn." The BoE has kept interest rates at a record low of 0.5 per cent since March and embarked on a £125 billion (Dh748.9bn) quantitative easing programme to help pull UK out of its first recession since the 1990s. Economic output fell by 1.9 per cent in the first three months of 2009. But a clutch of surveys has suggested that the economy may be over the worst. Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the daily Emirates Business 24|7 newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here .