"There are various estimates about the third quarter ... numbers between half and one percent," said Ben Bernacke, Chairman of the White House chairman of Economic Advisors.

"That will probably leave us a decent rate of growth in the third quarter."

"We see that coming back in the fourth quarter and going onto next year," he said, after a weekly meeting of top Bush administration economic advisors at the White House.

Bernacke said that consumer spending was strong in the United States economy, growth was robust and job creation was good, and noted that some sectors of the economy could see a spike from the post-hurricane rebuilding effort.

"I don't seen any significant risk of a recession," Bernacke said.

Joshua Bolton, chairman of the Office of Management and Budget meanwhile said that despite massive spending on hurricane relief and rebuilding efforts, Bush was still on track to cut the ballooning US deficit in half.

Such progress was dependent however on two factors: responsible spending combined with belt tightening and continued strong economic growth, he said.

The US Congress has approved more than 62 billion dollars to meet the immediate needs of the relief operation after Hurricane Katrina displaced hundreds of thousands of people from New Orleans and other ruined towns.

Bolton said that the administration's spending on the hurricane effort had so far swallowed up about one-third of that amount.

The International Monetary Fund last week concluded the US economy will shrug off Hurricane Katrina's immediate impact but will face longer-run risks from high oil prices, messy public finances and a housing downturn.

The fund predicted the world's biggest economy would expand by 3.5 percent this year and 3.3 percent next.

The bipartisan congressional budget office said on September 7 that Katrina could hit US growth by up to one percentage point.

related report
Port Of New Orleans Operating At 20 Percent Capacity
Washington (AFP) Sep 28 - The Port of New Orleans, a key to US maritime operations, is operating at just 20 percent capacity and needs repairs costing some 1.7 billion dollars, its top executive told Congress Wednesday.

Gary LaGrange, president and chief executive of the port, told the Senate Finance Committee that it would take "months if not years to fully recover" from the storms.

LaGrange said the current estimate is that 1.7 billion dollars will be needed to rehabilitate, replace or improve port facilities damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in New Orleans alone, with other smaller ports also needing extensive repairs.

"The Port of New Orleans is the primary economic engine for the region - and if the port returns to full operations, the region will soon follow," he said.

"With repaired port and intermodal infrastructure and a return of the workforce, the port will be a major factor in the business and economic revitalization so desperately required for the Gulf Coast region."

LaGrange said that in the meantime, there could be disruptions of shipping not only of petroleum, but of chemicals and a variety of agricultural and industrial goods for the midwest United States.

"These Gulf ports serve as one of the nation's largest gateways for poultry exports, and the inability to handle frozen poultry products through unique dockside facilities would affect the industry worldwide," he said.

"Steel is another commodity handled by the Port of New Orleans. The cost of diverting steel imports from New Orleans would increase the cost of such products by an estimated 80 to 90 dollars per metric ton."

Separately, David Wyss, chief economist at Standard and Poor's, said that while petroleum can be shifted to other ports in many cases, agricultural goods may be problematic.

"The critical time is the beginning of November - that's when the midwest agricultural season begins."

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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