WELLINGTON - NEW Zealand's central bank on Thursday cut the official interest rate by half a percentage point to a record low 2.5 per cent because of the impact of the global economic crisis.

Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Alan Bollard said he did not expect to start lifting the official interest rate (OCR) again until the latter part of next year.

The scale of the financial and economic crisis meant it was likely to be some time before economic activity returned to robust and healthy levels, Mr Bollard said.

The new rate is the lowest since the OCR was introduced in 1999.

'We consider it appropriate to provide further policy stimulus to the economy,' he said.

'We expect to keep the OCR at or below the current level through until the latter part of 2010.' -- AFP