The Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan said that in 2006 the circulation of money funds on plastic cards in the country grew by 98.7% compared with 2005.

The volume of plastic cards operation reached 284.5 billion soums, according to a report by Jahon quoting Business Partner newspaper.

Last year the number of operations transacted with the help of plastic cards emitted by the country's commercial banks increased 1.4-fold to 9,66 million soums, the paper wrote.  Plastic banking cards intended for settling accounts in national currency are now emitted by 21 commercial banks operating in Uzbekistan. According to the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as of 1 January 2007 they have emitted a total of 3.2 million plastic cards, up 55% on the figure recorded early 2006.

Domestic commercial banks installed 3,240 new ATMs (answering telling machines or 'cash machines') in trade outlets, shops and services centers countrywide. The total number of trade terminals and ATMs reached 14,430, according to the newspaper.

Banking specialists note that a runaway increase in the number of account settlement operations by plastic cards has been observed since September 2004, the newspaper report also said.