KARACHI, Pakistan Pakistan's central bank kept its key rate unchanged at 22% on Monday after a scheduled meeting of its monetary policy committee, the bank's governor said at a press conference on Monday.

The meeting was the first since a new $3 billion bailout for the country was approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this month for the ailing economy that was teetering on the brink of a global debt default.

The IMF said in its country report following the bailout that the bank must continue with its monetary tightening cycle to tame inflation.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has raised its key policy rate by 12.25 percentage points since April 2022, to curb soaring inflation.

(Reporting by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)