Karandaaz Pakistan signed a data sharing agreement with TASDEEQ, a private credit bureau operating in Pakistan. By joining hands with TASDEEQ, Karandaaz will be enhancing the data offered through its data portal to include enterprise credit information for more than 70 sub-sectors in Pakistan. Speaking about the partnership and what data access at this scale will mean for Pakistan, Mr. Waqas ul Hasan, CEO Karandaaz, said, “Karandaaz’s Data Portal is a state-of-the-art platform through which information on financial inclusion, and macro and micro economic indicators can be obtained, layered, analyzed, and shared with relative ease. We are constantly adding to the depth and breadth of the data points on this portal and our partnership with TASDEEQ is a testament to these efforts. Karandaaz’s interactive Data Portal collates and aggregates financial and economic data for Pakistan from multiple publicly available sources, including but not limited to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reports, several financial inclusion surveys, the Economic Survey of Pakistan, Population Census, Labor Force Surveys, etc. Talking about the need to improve access to information in Pakistan, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Chairperson Karandaaz, said, “It is important to realize that development of emerging markets is contingent on the availability of information to support informed decision making and building investor confidence in underdeveloped markets. There is a strong need for the adoption of open data practices and to strengthen the right to information which is already available in our laws but not always practiced with the same spirit. Greater access to data will promote greater transparency and accountability in the government and private sector while supporting development outcomes. This partnership between TASDEEQ and Karandaaz is the blueprint for a way forward not only because of public accessibility of vital data but also because data collection is a cost- and time-intensive exercise and such agreements can drive those costs down.”