In the history of mankind there have been instances of people ignoring the existing rules of the official economy. This usually translates into doing things to avoid paying money to the government. This may be employment taxes, sales tax, or any other official fees or costs. Sometimes this is referred to as the black market or underground economy.
Obviously the government doesn’t like this as they loose out on taxes. Goods paid for in cash may magically cost 10 – 20% less mirroring the cost of not paying sales tax. Uzbekistan currently uses a method to eliminate cash in transactions. Salaries, pensions as well as the purchase of goods and services are done using electronic cards. The cash is deposited in your bank and there it sits, you cannot even take it out for obvious reasons.
The there even exists an official exchange rate for foreign currencies that is used if you are required to exchange your currency. The problem is that there underground economy works well with currencies too. It seems that there are always plenty of buyers of foreign currency at rates that differ from the official exchange rates. It is a combination, of the government doesn’t trust the people, and the people don’t trust the government to spend the money in a reasonable manner. Well, this and the people are finding their purchasing power being eroded by inflation, which in Uzbekistan was 7% end of 2012.