The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday called on the Spanish government to undertake more reforms in the labor market in order to address the hovering umemployment, local media reported .

The IMF made the recommendations when presenting its concluding statement of an annual assessment of the Spanish economy.

It recognized that the labor reforms implemented by the government last year had improved the situation but were still"insufficient" in order to boost employment.

Spain's unemployment rate stood at 27.16 percent in the first quarter of 2013 with more than six million people out of work in the country, a figure that was described by the IMF as "unacceptably high".

As a result, the IMF urged Spain to reduce the cost of dismissals and reduce social security contributions, while increasing sales tax and special taxes in order to increase state revenue.

After years of recession, Spain will probably start growing economically at the end of this year and into next year but the growth may not be enough to bring down the unemployment rate, said James Daniel, the IMF mission chief for Spain.

"The uncertainty is whether the recovery will be strong enough to generate jobs," Daniel told reporters.

Spanish minister of finance Cristobal Montoro also said on Monday the country was close to overcoming the crisis while announcing that the second quarter of 2013 could be "a turning point for the Spanish economy." Endit

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