The Panamanian balboa
Currency · PAB · 1 country
Panama has struck balboa coins since 1904 and has never kept a balboa banknote in circulation for more than a week. The balboa replaced the Colombian peso after independence and has been tied one to one to the US dollar from the start. US notes are Panama's paper money, and the country has no official central bank.
No sign of its own
The balboa has no sign of its own. Prices are written B/., an abbreviation of balboa with a slash and a full stop, and the Spanish academies' style dictionary also records ฿, the character better known as the sign of the Thai baht.
- ISO code
- PAB
- ISO number
- 590
- Subunit
- centésimo, 1/100
An amount, written out
PAB 1,234.50
- PAB 1,234.50English
- B/. 1,234.50SpanishPanama
Where the Panamanian balboa is the official currency
Panama pairs it with the US dollar at par. Dollar notes are legal tender there under Law 84 of 1904, although US coins, built to the same specifications, are not.
Legal tender alongside it
About the Panamanian balboa
Why a balboa always equals a dollar
Law 84 of 28 June 1904, passed by Panama's National Convention, made the balboa the monetary unit of the republic: a silver coin of 1.672 grams, 0.900 fine, divided into 100 centésimos. The same article made the United States gold dollar legal tender at one balboa. The two have circulated side by side ever since, at par.
That arrangement still decides what Panamanians carry. Balboa coins make up the small change. United States banknotes are legal tender and the main form of cash. United States coins, though built to the same specifications as Panama's, are not legal tender there.
Who does a central bank's work
Panama has never had an official central bank. The National Bank of Panama, one of two government-owned banks, took on the non-monetary side of central banking, and a separate National Banking Commission, created along with the country's International Financial Center, was charged with licensing and supervising banks.
What happened to the notes of seven days
The one attempt at paper money lasted about a week. Article 156 of the constitution of 1941 allowed official and private banks to issue notes, and a Banco Central de Emisión de la República de Panamá was created on 30 September 1941. Its notes, printed by the Hamilton Bank Note Company, went into circulation on 2 October 1941.
Days later the president who had pushed the measure, Arnulfo Arias, was removed in a coup. The new government closed the bank and withdrew the notes, and they were burned at the Colegio Artes y Oficios between 13 June and 6 July 1942. Few escaped the fire. Collectors know the survivors as the Arias seven-day notes.
How the coins came to match the US set
The first coins, of 2½ to 50 centésimos in 90% silver, were struck in 1904 from melted Colombian coins, according to the Asociación Numismática de Panamá. The 2½ centésimos weighed 1.25 grams and was small enough to be called the Panama pill or the Panama pearl.
From 1930 the match with the United States became exact. The fractional balboa coins of that year and the one balboa of 1931 were identical in size and composition to the US coins. When the United States changed its silver coinage in 1966 Panama did the same, and in 1983 the centésimo followed the US cent from copper to copper-plated zinc. Every current coin from the centésimo to the half balboa is physically the same as its US counterpart, from the cent to the half dollar.
A bimetallic one-balboa coin entered circulation in 2010, with 40 million balboas issued. Its reception was hostile: people complained that it was being pushed into use in place of the US dollar bill, and the National Bank of Panama answered that nobody was obliged to accept it.
Common questions
Questions about the Panamanian balboa
Does Panama have balboa banknotes?
No. Panama issues coins only, and United States banknotes serve as its paper money and main form of cash. The one exception lasted a week: notes issued on 2 October 1941 by a newly created Banco Central de Emisión, withdrawn after the government that created them fell in a coup and burned in 1942.
Why is Panama's money called the balboa?
It is named after Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the Spanish explorer and conquistador. His armoured bust has appeared on Panamanian coins, including the quarter and half balboa struck from 1930 and the silver one balboa of 1966, which carries the national coat of arms on its other side. The name dates from Law 84 of 28 June 1904, which set up the balboa as the unit of the new republic's money after it left Colombia and gave up the Colombian peso.
Can US coins be spent in Panama?
Panama's coins are made to the same specifications as US coins, from the centésimo, which matches the cent, up to the half balboa. Even so, US coins are not legal tender in Panama, while US banknotes are and serve as the country's cash. Balboa coins, for their part, are not legal tender in the United States.