Track your expenses in Panama, in balboas

The balboa in Kesef

If your phone's region is Panama, Kesef suggests the balboa (B/. 1,250.50) as your main currency. But in Panama the balboa is worth the same as the dollar and the bills in circulation are dollars: if you'd rather see everything in dollars, pick the US dollar when you start or change it later from your Profile. One catch: with a balboa account, an expense you log in dollars is saved in dollars and converted at an international rate.

If you pay for something in dollars, that expense stays in dollars and Kesef adds it to your totals in balboas at the day's international rate.

Apple Pay in Panama: payments that log themselves

Apple lists Panama among the countries with Apple Pay, so with Kesef Pro, on an iPhone running iOS 17 or later, every Apple Pay payment logs itself with its amount and merchant. You turn it on once from the Shortcuts app. Mercado Pago isn't offered in Panama: whatever you pay by transfer or in cash, dictate it or log it with a receipt photo.

The thirteenth month, in three parts

In Panama the thirteenth month doesn't arrive all at once: it's paid in three parts, on April 15, August 15 and December 15, and together they add up to one twelfth of what you earned in the year. Both public and private sector workers get it.

Three fixed dates a year lend themselves to a plan: in Kesef you log each part as income when it arrives and send a share to the same savings goal, so you see in one place how much the décimo added up to over the year.

Examples in Panama, in balboas

• ExampleLunch via YappyYou pay B/. 8 through Yappy and dictate it afterwards: "lunch, 8". It goes in your account's currency, balboas or dollars, whichever you picked.
• ExampleThe metro cardThe B/. 10 you put on your metro card each week is logged once as a weekly recurring expense, and Kesef repeats it.
• ExampleA washing machine in 6 installmentsThe B/. 540 washing machine in six card installments: Kesef schedules all six, at B/. 90.