Islamabad, Oct 29 (IANS): The Pakistani rupee has continued its downward trajectory for the third consecutive session as the US dollar was traded at 222.47 PKR in the interbank market, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.

Friday's continuation comes after the US dollar closed at 221.50 rupees on Thursday, and on the last working day of the week the local currency depreciated by 0.97 rupee, or about 0.44 per cent, against the US dollar, Xinhua news agency reported citing official figures.

Since the beginning of this fiscal year, the rupee's value has declined by 16.64 rupees or 7.52 per cent.

According to market analysts, some of the factors domestically caused scepticism in the market which resulted in the depreciation of the local currency.

However, the Asian Development Bank released $1.5 billion a couple of days ago to support Pakistan's economy and relief efforts in the wake of recent devastating floods in the South Asian country.