Small businesses in Uzbekistan rarely accept cashless payments.

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In Uzbekistan, small businesses practically never use cashless payments.

Acceptance of cashless payments remains rare for small and medium-sized businesses in Uzbekistan: the payment service availability index for this sector was only 19 out of 100. This is the lowest score among all areas assessed in the pilot financial inclusion index, according to the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

By comparison, the availability of credit products for small and medium businesses is rated at 50 points, while savings products are rated at 44 points.

The difference between credit and payment services is 31 points. According to the Central Bank, this means that having a bank account or credit history alone does not guarantee convenient acceptance of cashless payments or remote cash flow management.

The final score was influenced, in particular, by the low prevalence of registered e-wallets per business entity. The Central Bank emphasizes that payments are an important link between daily business operations and lending opportunities for businesses: electronic income and expenses create a verified history of a company's turnover, which helps credit institutions more accurately assess credit risk.

Conversely, with limited non-cash transactions, credit institutions have a reduced database of up-to-date information on a business's current activities, while the importance of collateral and an established credit history in assessing creditworthiness increases.

Priority development areas include the creation of a unified digital financial path for businesses, combining accounts, corporate cards, payment acceptance, turnover accounting, and financing, as well as the development of "embedded finance" solutions that integrate financial services into everyday business processes.