MADRID, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund lowered on Wednesday its forecast for Spain's economic growth this year and next citing the lingering impact of the coronavirus pandemic on contact-intensive industries and persistent global supply bottlenecks. The IMF now expects the economy to expand 4.6% in 2021, down from its previous forecast of 5.7% released in September, and 5.8% in 2022 after 6.4% estimated earlier. Last year, Spain's GDP slumped a record 10.8%. The new figures are in line with the European Commission and Bank of Spain forecasts, but well below the government's 6.5% growth estimate for this year. Spain's economic activity is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels before late 2022 or early 2023, the Fund said in its Article IV annual report on Spanish economy. While the IMF supports current stimulus measures and planned reforms, it warned that the fiscal imbalance in public accounts will have to be reversed in the medium term. "Spain will need to bring debt levels down to more prudent levels and create space for responding to future shocks," it said, suggesting that 2023 is the time to begin fiscal consolidation. Reporting by Inti Landauro and Belén Carreño; editing by Andrei Khalip