Bonaire inflation reaches 5.9%: does your rate still cover the work?

Prices on Bonaire were 5.9% higher in the third quarter of 2026 than a year earlier, CBS reported on 21 October. In the second quarter, the figure was 3.3%. Compared with Q2, petrol went up 13%, flights 8.9% and electricity 15.2%. Water was the one thing that got cheaper. The figures are provisional and will be finalised with the fourth-quarter release.

If you sell your time, this doesn't show up on your invoices straight away. You charge the same rate as last year, the client pays the same amount, and yet less of it stays with you. That's especially true if your work has you driving around the island or flying to Curaçao to see a client.

A fixed monthly fee hides a lot

Plenty of freelancers and small agencies work on retainer: a fixed monthly fee for an agreed number of hours. It suits both sides. The client knows what it costs, and you know how much work you've promised.

The risk is in the hours that creep in. Say you agree USD 1,200 a month for 20 hours, excluding ABB. That's USD 60 an hour. If the work actually takes 24 hours and you don't bill the extra four, you're down to USD 50 an hour, and the monthly invoice hasn't changed by a cent. That's also before ABB and before your own costs, so what you actually keep is lower still.

Hourly work has the same problem, just less visibly. Your rate says nothing about the time you spend on a job but never write down.

Numbers first, then the conversation

Before you name a new rate, find out where you stand. Put the hours you worked over the last three to six months next to the hours in the agreement, month by month. One busy month doesn't prove much. Four months in a row at 24 hours does.

Next, look at where those hours went. Often it's things that were never in the agreement: another round of changes, an extra meeting, a quick check on a Saturday. Each request is small, but together they become part of the fixed price if nobody says anything.

Evening and weekend work deserves its own terms. When are you available, and what does work outside those hours cost? The same goes for hours a client doesn't use in a quiet month. Do they expire, or carry over? That decides how much work you still owe.

Then go through your own costs again. The 5.9% is an island-wide average, not a number to add to your rate. Someone who drives a lot feels the petrol price far more than someone who works from home.

Give your client a choice

A higher fee isn't the only option. If your client's budget is fixed, you could agree fewer hours for the next period and decide together what comes first. Or keep the hours the same and agree a new fee from the next period.

Either way, agree a rate for hours above the allowance, and when you'll ask before doing them. That way the client decides about extra work before it happens, not after it shows up on an invoice.

Put it in writing. A short email with the figures works better than a long explanation: 20 hours agreed, 24 worked on average, here's the proposal, starting on this date. Ask the client to confirm. While you're at it, add when you'll review the rate together, say every October.

Keep amounts with and without ABB clearly apart. On Bonaire, ABB on ordinary services is 6%. Our guide to ABB on Bonaire explains how it goes on your invoice.

Where Zentract helps

In Zentract, you track time on the task you're working on, so the comparison between agreed and worked hours is already there. For a retainer, you set the hours and fee per period and decide what happens to hours above it: bill them at their own rate, take them off the next period, or just record them. You get an alert at 80% and 100% of the hours by default, not at the end of the month. And a statement you share with the client shows which hours went to which tasks, which makes the conversation about a new fee a lot easier.

Start with one client

This week, pick one current agreement. List the agreed hours, the hours worked and the fee excluding ABB for each month, then divide the fee by the hours you actually worked. That one number tells you whether this conversation is due.

This article is general information, not tax or legal advice.

Sources (checked on 25 October 2026): CBS, Inflation rises on Bonaire and Saba, falls on Sint Eustatius (in Dutch), 21 October 2026.