Oslo - The Norwegian central bank on Wednesday lowered its lead rate a further 0.50 percentage points to 1.50 per cent in an attempt to reduce the impact of the weakened global economy on Norway.

"New information has confirmed that the current global economic downturn is the deepest in the post-war period," Norges Bank governor Svein Gjedrem Jan F Qvigstad said in a statement.

The new cut takes effect Thursday, the central bank said.

Among factors indicating the slump were further decline in production, rising unemployment and slowing inflation in Norway.

In April, seasonally adjusted registered unemployment was 2.8 per cent, up 0.2 percentage points from March.

Some hopeful signs were that "growth has picked up in China, and there are signs that other emerging market economies are stabilising," the central bank said.

The central bank also in February and March cut the lead rate by 0.50 percentage points.

Norway is not a member of the European Union. (dpa)