RISING DEBT: Spain’s public debt load has doubled since 2008, the central bank said Friday, even as the government sought to calm financial markets’ worries that the eurozone’s fourth-biggest economy might need a bailout.

THE DETAILS: The Bank of Spain said that as of the end of the first quarter, the combined debt of the central, regional and local governments stood at 72 percent of gross domestic product. That’s double its 35 percent debt load in early 2008, when the country’s financial woes began when the real estate bubble burst after fueling years of growth.