Currency of Uzbekistan

The currency of Uzbekistan is Som; the ISO code of the Uzbekistan Som is UZS. Originally the word som means “pure”, implying “pure gold”. It is divided into subdivisions of 100 tiyin. The first currency of Uzbekistan was the Soviet/Russian ruble; on November 15, 1993 the ruble was replaced with som, as a transitional currency. The first series of coins and bank notes were first issued in 1994.

Even after independence, Uzbekistan was still using the Soviet/Russian ruble; in 1993 a new Russian ruble was introduced and the old one ceased to be legal tender. In Uzbekistan, however, some people had their currencies changed, some continued using the pre-1993 Soviet/Russian ruble, and some used both. When in 1993, the ruble was replaced by the som, it was meant to be just a transitional currency, which is the reason behind the fairly simple design of the currency. A second som was introduced on July 1, 1994; this som was then further divided into 100 tiyin. The inflation in Uzbekistan hasn’t done well for the currency; that is the main reason a lot of coins and bank notes haven’t been introduced. The highest coin is still the 500 som and the highest note the 1000 Som.