Panama: plugs, voltage, currency, time & travel facts

Plugs and voltage

Panama uses Types A and B sockets. Mains supply is 120 V at 60 Hz.

At 120 V, devices from 220–240 V countries that are not dual-voltage will run weakly or not at all. Chargers labelled “100–240V” work fine with just a plug adapter.

Money

PAB Panamanian Balboa PAB

Average in 2025: 1 USD = 1.00 PAB (World Bank). No daily reference rate is published for this currency by the ECB; check a live rate before exchanging.

$ US Dollar USD

Reference rates, 2026-10-30 (ECB)
1 EUR	1.12 USD
1 GBP	1.34 USD
1 JPY	0.006359 USD
1 AUD	0.7025 USD

US Dollar: where it's used and rates

Price level 50 (US = 100, 2025)

Everyday household prices in Panama are about 50% of US prices when converted at market exchange rates: dearer than the median country (50). All countries

Language

Spanishofficial69%

Bars show the share of the population that speaks each language (CLDR estimates).

Time

UTC−5

Panama is on UTC−5, with no daylight saving time.

Driving

Traffic in Panama drives on the right, so the steering wheel is on the left.

Public holidays in the next 12 months

13 national public holidays from 2 November 2026. Banks, offices and many shops close; regional holidays are not shown. Dates marked “estimated” follow a lunar calendar and can move by a day.