A large number of people turned up at the money exchanges from morning yesterday to send money to their families, like any other day.

There had been no change in the exchange rate, despite fears of strengthening of dirham against Pakistani rupee, which generally prove true during abnormal situations like emergency.

However, traders, who usually make huge financial payments to their counterparts for importing goods from Pakistan, said since it was a weekly holiday there, they did not know the US dollar rate in the open market.

“We have no idea about the currency rates as banks and wholesale markets are all closed,” said a trader here.

Many traders were confused yesterday about sending money to Pakistan. Several of them opted to wait till today, the first working day after the declaration of emergency, to analyse the mood of the market and reaction of the economy.

“I think US dollar might appreciate a bit, if not significantly, in unofficial market,” said Hussain, a trader at a currency exchange.

But one trader said there would not be any short-term impact on the economy as the government has $18 billion worth of foreign currency reserves, which are sufficient to foot the import bill for three months.

The only victim of the current crisis would be the stock market, which is likely to plunge significantly, after the record-breaking surge to 14,800.