Ireland has come to grips with its banking problems, but it will not be able to pop the champagne until its unemployment rate starts to come down, a senior official with the International Monetary Fund said Saturday.

Unemployment is still very, very high ... until unemployment also starts to come down, we shouldn't start to pop the champagne, Ajai Chopra, deputy director of the IMF's European Department, told an economic conference in the small Irish town of Kenmare.

Ireland's unemployment rate is over 14 percent, compared with 4.6 percent in 2007 before a property bubble burst and the economy was brought to its knees.

Chopra is in Ireland for the latest quarterly review of Ireland's 85 billion euro ($117.9 billion) European Union-IMF bailout. The outcome of that review, conducted by officials from the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Commission, will be known late next week.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Carmel Crimmins)

Reuters

IMF European central bank International Monetary Fund International Monetary Fund