MANILA, Philippines - A senior official expressed confidence that the Philippines will post a 0.9% growth in the last 3 months of the year, bringing the country's full-year growth within government targets.

"We're on track to for 0.9% (growth)," Dennis Arroyo, head of policy planning at the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), told reporters on Thursday.

Last month, Arroyo said the economy needs to grow by 0.9% in the fourth quarter to meet the low end of the government's full-year target of 0.8% to 1.8%.

The continued slide in manufacturing caused the Philippines to grow slower than expected in the third quarter at 0.8%, bringing gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the first 9 months of the year to 0.7%.

"Growth in 2009 (will be) within range," NEDA Acting Director General Augusto Santos said, adding that the central bank's accommodative monetary policy helped spur growth.

Earlier, the World Bank said damages and losses to crops, property, and infrastructure from recent typhoons reached $4.4 billion or 2.7% of the country's GDP.

The country's public-private sector reconstruction commission has expressed optimism that it can recover the estimated storm damages through pledges from multilateral organizations, while NEDA has said the government will engage in deficit spending in the next 3 years to cover rehabilitation efforts. With a report from Reuters