MANILA - Two typhoons which struck the Philippines' main island of Luzon in recent months will probably dampen growth in the near term, stretch state finances and push 480,000 people into poverty, a post-disaster report showed on Wednesday.

Damages and losses to crops, property, and infrastructure from typhoons Ketsana and Parma reached nearly $4.4 billion, or 2.7% of the Southeast Asian country's gross domestic product, according to the post-disaster needs assessment report issued by the World Bank.

"The disaster is expected to have a negative impact on GDP growth in the short term," the report said.

"However, once projected public and private recovery and reconstruction spending are included, the net impact of the disasters on economic activity is expected to result in real GDP growth of 1% in 2009 and 3.5% in 2010."

The world bank estimates are within the government's forecasts of growth hitting the low end of its target range of 0.8% to 1.8% this year and picking up to 2.6% to 3.6% in 2010.

The total cost of recovery and reconstruction efforts until 2012 -- especially in farming, flood management and disaster risk reduction and housing -- was estimated at $4.42 billion, with majority, or 55%, to be funded by the public sector.

The private sector will take up the rest of the financing.

The total is well above the $823 million estimate of Manila's disaster agency, which however only accounted for direct damages and excluded resulting economic and property losses.

"How the government chooses to prioritize spending for recovery and reconstruction will be critical, since this spending may need to be the centerpiece of the fiscal stimulus programme for the next couple of years," the report said.

"Public revenues are also expected to be affected...resulting in revenue losses over the next year."

Luzon, including the capital, produces over three-fifths of the country's GDP and the typhoons would push hundreds of thousands into poverty this year, the report said.

"The number of poor people in the Philippines is expected to increase by 480,000 in 2009," it said. "Total income lost due to the disaster amounted to P50.3 billion ($1.1 billion), which particularly affected informal workers."

The two typhoons severely affected 9.3 million people, or about a fifth of Luzon's population.

Ketsana dumped an unusually high volume of rain over the capital and nearby provinces in late September while Parma crossed over central and northern Luzon regions three times in a space of a week, causing massive floods and landslides.