The Senate approved the design of a new 1,000 soum coin, along with a 200,000 soum banknote. The design of the coin has not yet been unveiled, with the Central Bank adding that coin would be put into circulation before year-end.
“Preparatory work is underway. After setting the exact release date, information will be provided, as well as the design of the coin will be unveiled,” the Central Bank said.
Replacing the 1,000 soum banknote with a coin, “on the one hand, will reduce the cost of organizing the circulation of this banknote, on the other hand, it will make the use of cash more convenient,” said the chair of the Central Bank.
According to the regulator, in 2021, due to the increase in the share of large denomination banknotes in circulation, the total number of banknotes has significantly decreased. If the share of banknotes of 100 thousand soums in the structure of cash put into circulation during the year increased from 27.3% to 34.8%, then the share of banknotes of 50 thousand soums decreased from 38.8% to 34.2%, 10 thousand soums - from 15.7% to 14.5%, 5,000 soums - from 16.1% to 12.7% and 1,000 soums - from 2.1% to 1.4%.
