MADRID (AFP) - Spains jobless rate topped 20 percent in the first quarter, official data showed Friday, fuelling fears over the countrys public finances which have rattled global financial markets. The number of unemployed jumped by 280,200 to 4.61 million, more than in Germany which has nearly twice Spains population, for a jobless rate of 20.05 percent, said national statistics institute INE. The unemployment rate rose from 18.83 percent in the fourth quarter. The last time it topped 20 percent in Spain was in the fourth quarter of 1997 when it hit 20.11 percent. Economy and Finance Minister Elena Salgado sought to put a bright face on the figures, telling reporters that the pace of job losses was much less pronounced than during the first quarter of 2009. But that does not hide the gravity of these figures and the governments determination to devote the necessary effort to create jobs, she said. Spains jobless rate has soared since the global credit crisis hastened the collapse of its labour-intensive construction industry at the end of 2008. The countrys unemployment rate is double the record high of 10 percent posted in the entire 16-nation eurozone in March, according to figures released Friday by the European Unions statistics office Eurostat. The rise in unemployment means Spains socialist government, which has vowed to protect social welfare spending, will face an even bigger bill for jobless benefits as it tries to rein in a public deficit that hit 11.2 percent of output last year. Ratings agency Standard & Poors cut the countrys long-term sovereign credit rating on Wednesday to AA from AA+ amid concerns about the countrys growth prospects, sending the euro and global stock markets tumbling on fears Madrid faces similar problems to Greece. The Spanish economy, Europes fifth largest, contracted 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, even as the entire eurozone, the United States and Japan emerged from recession. Spain has proved especially vulnerable to the global credit crunch because growth relied heavily on credit-fuelled domestic demand and a property boom boosted by easy access to loans that has collapsed. French investment bank Natixis estimates that prior to the crisis 30 percent of Spains working population worked directly or indirectly for the construction industry. The government has spent billions of euros in stimulus measures aimed at curbing the economic contraction and stemming job losses. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, elected to a second four-year term in 2008, said Wednesday that unemployment had likely peaked in the first quarter and would now begin dropping. He also predicted that the economy may have returned to growth during the first three months of the year.