Kenya has frozen public sector wage hikes for the next two financial years beginning in July due to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country's tax collections.

The east African nation's public sector wage bill has been accounting for a bigger percentage of tax revenue than stipulated under the public finance management act which set a target of 35 percent.

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), which is the state agency mandated to set the level of wages for public sector workers, has been undertaking four-year review cycles for benefits of government employees since 2013.

So far it has conducted two remuneration review cycles for the public sector.

Each of these reviews has resulted in an annual rise of wages for civil servants as the economy has performed well in the past decade.

However, the situation has changed drastically largely due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic which has reduced fiscal space in government coffers.

Data from SRC indicates that for the 2019/2020 financial year, the total wage bill was 51.7 percent of ordinary revenue raised.

In addition, the wage bill to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio reached 8.3 percent in the 2019/2020 financial year which is above the set target of 7.5 percent.

SRC said that in order to catalyze economic growth, more tax resources must be channeled towards priority areas.

In order to release the resources, austerity measures must include budgetary cuts on the wages of government employees.

According to SRC, the review of remuneration and benefits in the third review cycle is informed by outcomes of job evaluation and grading as well as labor market salary surveys.

Lynn Mengich, chairperson of SRC said that cognizant of the government's financial constraints, there will be no upward review of salaries for the public sector in the next two years.

Mengich said that the move will save the country resources which can be redirected to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Edward Kusewa, an economist, told Xinhua in Nairobi on Thursday that the country's public sector wage bill has been increasing for the past decade after the promulgation of the 2010 constitution.

Kusewa added that the new constitution created 47 county governments which drastically expanded the number of employees in the public sector.

"The government was a step in the right direction in terms of devolving resources closer to the people but it has the unintended effect of expanding the wage bill," said Kusewa.

He said that a freeze in pay for civil servants is inevitable as the country grapples with reduced tax revenues for the foreseeable period.

Kusewa said that reducing the public wage bill is one of the avenues available for the country to manage the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Kusewa, the job stability and the relatively high wages paid by the public sector as compared to the private sector have attracted more people to join the government.

Eliud Lekolal, who works for the government, told Xinhua that he was attracted to join the public sector amid a guarantee for job security.

The 34-year-old father of three completed his business management degree in a public university in 2013.

"I now have to cope with a freeze on salary for this year, " said Lekolal.

Experts say the push to join the government has also led to a bulging public wage bill which has now become a burden as the COVID-19 pandemic reduces tax revenues.