WASHINGTON: Spain must stay the course on economic reforms if it wants to generate growth and reduce its sky-high unemployment rate, ahead of a year-end general election, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday. “The clearer we are in not reversing existing structural reforms and fiscal consolidation, the stronger is the defence against any external risks,” said Helge Berger, chief of the IMF mission in Spain following the publication of the body’s annual report on the country. The Washington-based IMF warned that backtracking on reforms would ‘create uncertainty and damage the recovery, especially if external conditions deteriorate’.