The law that Panama will shift to an all-metric system is slowly being implemented. Given that most products already have both metric and US Customary Units/Imperial measurements and most construction workers are bi-measural working in both inches and meters, the biggest impact will be that we will start buying gasoline, like most of the rest of the world, in liters.
As of Sunday, March 17, 2013, all fuels in Panama would be sold by the liter instead of the traditional U.S. gallon. Javier Arias, director of the National Methodology Center of Panama (Cenamet), said the change in the conversion of gallons to liters does not represent in any way, shape or form, a price increase, it’s only changes the way you order the product.
Arias explained that all they are doing is converting the price per gallon with international conversion factor (3.78541178) to convert gallons to liters.
The service stations will work from March 17 until April 30 when full adaptation of the new system should by ready across the country On May 1, 2013, all fuel sales should be made using the liter as the unit of measurement to comply with the regulations of the World Trade Organization—WTO (Sistema Internacional de Unidad de Medidas de Panamá).
This adoption of liters is based on Law 52 of December 11, 2007 which allowed Panama a period of up to five years to carry out the new system known as “Sistema Internacional de Unidad de Medidas de Panamá” (Panama International Measurements of Units). It will be mandatory for all service stations to post their prices in liters with three decimal points to insure accuracy in the conversion of gallons to liters.
On March 21, I went out to the city to find out if the service stations were indeed changing to liters. Not really, all the service stations visited were marketing their fuels in U.S. gallons as shown in the picture below.
BEFORE:
On April 2, 2013, I finally found out that all Puma service stations in Panama City had switched to the new metric system. You could see their prices posted in liters with three decimal systems for the sake of accuracy. Take a look.
AFTER:
Ricardo Martinelli, the current president of Panama, promised changes in Panama during his political campaign. The guy has kept his word and is busy making all kinds of “cambios” in the country in a very short period of time. I haven’t seen so many changes in Panama in my lifetime. It’s absolutely mind-boggling. Good Day.
Lingua Franca 
You used a word I can’t remember ever coming across – “bi-measural”.It may be around, and I might have bumped into it if I was doing reading in construction and such, but I love it. It’s a perfectly useful word!
Morning Linda:
The word best describes the dual use of both measurement systems previously used in Panama. Now, all measurements will based on the metric system. It was just about time we made the switch. Most of Latin America is working with the metric system. We were lagging far behind. Not any more though.
Bye,
Omar.-
Have seen no changes in David yet.
Morning Don:
The whole country should be using the metric system by May 1, 2013. Soon Chiriquí will sell its fuels in liters; it’s just matter of days.
Bye,
Omar.-
Morning!
We filled up the rental car near the airport in David, March 30 and it was gallons. The total was $22, I gave the attendant a 20 dollar bill, then handed him 2 coins and told him, “y dos Martinellis”. I thought he was going to choke from laughing. Finally he told me, “Ya lo aprendistes”.
jim
Morning Jim & Nena:
I understand the new rates would start in Panama City and slowly spread to the countryside. Yeah, that’s right, we do call those dollar coins “Martinellis”.
Enjoy your stay in David and welcome back to Panama.
Omar.-
Congratulations to Panama on finally making the right move. It will take a bit getting used to, but it will be well worth it. Metric system once integrated throughout all areas of measurement, makes things much easier when it comes to calculating–most of it can be done in your head.
Hello Skysis:
Yeah, you’re right. I already make my gasoline calculations in liters instead of gallons. No problem. A piece of cake. 🙂
Regards,
Omar.-
This is a very odd move, considering that your OTHER unit of measurement on that sign is the US Dollar. Also, we’d like to point out that, here in the United States, the price of gasoline isn’t that expensive, even in New York City. Aren’t Panamanians far closer to oil refineries and oil-rich nations?
If you wish to sever your ties with the United States of America, we’d encourage you to sever your ties with our currency, not the Queen Anne Wine Gallon. We would like to point out that many other countries also use the Gallon for dispensing Gasoline and that, in Canada, where they used the 10-lb. (versus the 231 cu. in. QA Gallon) Imperial Gallon, many Canadian motorists still complain because a small increase 1c/L there as the same as over 4c/ Imperial Gallon.
When the gas goes up one cent per liter in Panama, remember that is 0.01USD equivalent to a 0.037854USD/USGallon increase.
While Panama is a small nation, it is a shame to see you bowing to conformity with your neighbors. Should we eliminate all unique languages, in favor of English (we notice, regrettably, that English is used in favor of your own national language on this site)? Should the US Dollar, or Euro, or Chinese Rmimbi/Yuan be used worldwide?
How has/will the liter improve the lives of Panamanian motorists over the Queen Anne Wine Gallon? Will it improve fuel economy, reduce smog, reduce traffic fatalities, cut down on drunken driving?
Or is it a feel-good political bandage that actually solves no important national problems or issues?
Panama having its own currency or exchange rate separated from a rather fragile current US Dollar would be a real fix/improvement. Changing from liters to gallons accomplishes nothing here in the real world.
This has nothing to do with Panamanian currency or whatever. It’s about metrication. Who said anything about severing ties with the USA? Any country can have strong ties with the USA while not using customary units. It’s not black or white.
Try not to shift the debate to anything unrelated.
Again, sorry to ruin your anti-metric agenda, but Panama has been using metric decades before this. Property was already sold by the square meter. Road signs already gave distances in kilometers, and speed limits were already posted in kilometers per hour. Pretty much the only non-metric part of Panama was gasoline being sold in gallons and groceries (sometimes) being sold in pounds. The switch to metric did not affect Panama’s relationship with the United States in any way, nor will it entice America to do the same.
Besides, the US dollar is subdivided into 100 cents (centi-). A di(s)me (deci-) is 10 cents. Initially the cent was divided into 10 mils (milli-), but those are gone now. In a sense, the beloved US dollar is already metric.
It was Thomas Jefferson who, back in the 1790s, got Americans out of the morass of pounds, shillings and pence (one pound was 20 shillings, each of which was 12 pence) and decimalized the dollar. Using this mathematical wisdom, he also had the idea of abandoning English/Imperial units and switching to a decimal system of weights and measures (like metric, but with its own set of names), but that never went through. It’s weird to see that, after 225 years of independence from Great Britain, the US continues to use English units (under the guise of “customary”) despite never having been part of the Commonwealth. What’s just as jarring as this is how the US and Britain would continue to fight each other in 1812.