IGCSE Addressing the Development Gap Practice Test 2026 - Free IGCSE Development Gap Practice Questions and Study Guide

The situation described describes a pattern where a country earns money mainly from selling cheap raw materials, while it has to buy expensive manufactured goods from abroad. This creates a persistent development problem because the earnings from exports stay low and are unstable due to volatile commodity prices, while imports drain scarce foreign exchange. With limited money to invest in domestic industries, the economy struggles to diversify and industrialize, keeping it dependent on other countries for manufactured products and vulnerable to price swings and shocks. Over time, this dynamic can trap a country in low-value production and slow growth, which is why the term “trade trap” fits best.

The other ideas describe parts of the scenario but don’t capture the developing-economy trap aspect: a primary product is just the type of export, not the developmental pattern; an export is a broad term for selling goods abroad; the balance of trade is a measure of exports minus imports without naming the growth implications.