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Panama currency is called the Balboa which is pegged 1:1 with the US dollar. Only Balboa coins are in circulation in Panama with US dollar paper currency the standard exchange mechanism for commerce.

The story of the balboa is a rather strange one. From the time Panama separated from Colombia (under strong US influence) in 1904, it decided to peg its currency to the US dollar. While it named its own currency the balboa, after the famous Spanish explorer Vasco de Nunez Balboa, no actual `balboas` were ever printed, except for a brief 7 days in 1941. The balboa bills were revoked after just a week in circulation, and largely destroyed. Other than that brief dalliance with printing paper currency, Panama has used the US$ to stand in for the balboa, which is always the same value as the US$. Coins have long been minted of the same composition, size and denomination as US coins (you can even use them in US pay phone and vending machines) but the figures are Panamanian, not American. So in effect, the balboa is a ghost currency - Panama uses US dollars and US dollar values.

The Panamanian currency is called the balboa but it`s actually just US dollars by another name.

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