1 Som

The 1994 Kyrgyz som series was introduced as part of the country's transition away from the Russian ruble, which Kyrgyzstan had continued using after independence until May 1993, when it became one of the first former Soviet republics to break from the ruble zone and issue its own currency. The move was partly forced — Russia's tight control over ruble printing left peripheral republics chronically short of cash.

P#7 sits at the low end of that inaugural series. Watermark security on the lowest denomination was largely symbolic given the note's negligible purchasing power at introduction.