Zhang Ping, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said the impact of the global downturn on China’s economy accelerated in the last month, possibly leading to higher unemployment and unrest, and is continuing to spread, the Financial Times reported. Zhang said the government needed to take "forceful" measures to limit the effects of the slowdown, including the sharp interest rate cuts introduced yesterday. He gave fresh details of how Beijing’s fiscal stimulus package would be spent, including US$263 billion on new rail, road and airport construction; US$146 billion on disaster reconstruction, especially in Sichuan province; US$54 billion on rural development and US$5.8 billion on health care and education over the next two years. China’s deputy minister of railways separately said the boom in railway construction next year could create 6 million jobs.