Government through its digitization agenda is seeking to widen the tax net to cover about 16 million people by the end of next year as opposed to the current 2 million who pay tax.

The national ID card will be used as a ‘tax identification’ card to rope in more taxpayers.

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said this in Accra at the launch of ‘Absa Bank Ghana Limited’ formerly Barclays Bank of Ghana.

He urged the bank to continue to support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises as they play a crucial role in the economy.

The Vice President commended the Bank for being adjudged the best Bank of the year across the globe at the recent Central Banking Awards.

After operating in Ghana for over a century now, Barclays Bank is now ‘Absa Bank Ghana Limited.’

The renaming of Barclays Bank, Ghana has been necessitated by the decision of the parent Company, ‘the Absa Group’ to rebrand all its operations in Africa.

The move is to leverage on the strong financial standing of its new parent company, ‘Absa Africa Group’ and the footprints to step up the growth of the brand in Ghana after 100 years of service.

Vice President Bawumia commended Absa for its products and services that seek to support SMEs as well as playing critical roles in Ghana’s eurobond issues and the cocoa syndicated loans.

He noted that while government creates an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, Industry players must compliment these efforts.

He added that government seeks to widen the tax net through its digitisation drive to cover about 16 million people.

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison said Absa has come at an opportune time where Ghana’s financial sector is showing positive growth after the reforms.

He was optimistic that the bank will continue to come out with digitsed solutions to meet changing trends and make banking more attractive to the unbanked.

The Chief Executive Officer of Absa Bank Ghana Limited, Daniel Mminele said the bank is clear about its goal of contributing to Ghana and Africa’s growth.

He said the bank will continue to support and harness the potential of the economy and support businesses.