The Spanish economy is thought to have expanded during the first quarter of 2010, according to the country's prime minister.

Speaking to parliament, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero explained that the first retail growth since 2007 is likely to have pushed up gross domestic product and could mark an end to the recession, Reuters reports.

This will boost hopes that the unemployment rate will start to fall and the prime minister himself has forecast a slight drop over the coming months.

Spain's economy contracted by 0.1 per cent in the last three months of 2009 and the country currently has the highest jobless rates of any nation in the eurozone.

Figures published by the ABC newspaper placed the total at 20.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2010. The news source claimed the information was accidentally published on the statistics agencies website for several minutes.

Earlier this month, official data from the Labor Ministry showed unemployment rose during March, but the rate at which it was growing slowed to 0.87 per cent, down from a two per cent increase in February.