Cambridge IGCSE Pakistan Studies: Trade, Transport and Telecommunications (0448)

Trade (Section 6) and Transport and telecommunications (Section 7) are the two linked sections of Cambridge IGCSE Pakistan Studies 0448 Paper 2 that deal with how goods, people and information move. Trade asks what Pakistan exports and imports, who its partners are, and why its balance of trade is hard to improve. Transport and telecommunications asks how road, rail, air, sea and communications networks are organised, what helps or hinders them, and how they support development. This guide covers both because questions often connect them.

Syllabus coverage

CAMBRIDGE IGCSE PAKISTAN STUDIES (0448), 2026 — PAPER 2, SECTION 6: TRADE

(a) Major exports and imports

• The main exports and imports, and recent changes in their types, amounts and value
• The meaning of GNP and GDP and the difference between them
• The effect of changing export and import trends on the balance of trade and the economy

(b) Pakistan’s trading partners

• Main trading partners, their location, and the goods exchanged with them
• Factors promoting or hindering trade; why a developing country finds it hard to keep or increase its share of world trade
• Trading blocs, trade barriers and currency exchange rates

SECTION 7: TRANSPORT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

(a) Internal transport

• Regional variations in density and pattern of road, rail and air networks, from maps
• Factors helping and hindering location, maintenance and development of roads, railways and airports
• Recent improvements and the feasibility of new developments; comparing road, rail and air for goods and people; evaluating new schemes such as motorways and airports

(b) International transport

• Cross-border roads (with the passes they use) and railways in use for at least part of the year
• The ports of Keamari, Qasim and Gwadar, and the cities with international airports
• Factors affecting cross-border routes, seaports, dry ports and airports; the meaning of a dry port, an example, and why they have been developed

(c) Telecommunications

• The importance of radio, television, phones, fax, email and the internet to education, industry, services and trade
• Problems of providing telecommunications in some areas; evaluating their role in development

What does Pakistan export and import?

Exports	Imports
Cotton yarn, cloth, garments, bed linen and towels	Crude oil and petroleum products
Rice	Machinery and transport equipment
Leather and leather goods	Chemicals, fertilisers and medicines
Sports goods and surgical instruments	Edible oil (palm oil)
Fruit, vegetables, fish	Iron and steel; tea

The long-term change has been from exporting raw materials such as raw cotton towards exporting processed and manufactured goods such as yarn, cloth and garments, which earn more value-added. Imports are dominated by fuel and machinery, so the import bill rises sharply when world oil prices rise.

What are GNP, GDP and the balance of trade?

GDP (gross domestic product) is the total value of goods and services produced within Pakistan in a year. GNP (gross national product) is GDP plus income earned by Pakistan’s people and firms abroad, minus income sent out by foreign firms. Remittances from Pakistanis working overseas help make GNP larger than GDP. The balance of trade is the value of exports minus the value of imports. Pakistan usually has a deficit because imports cost more than exports earn. A persistent deficit means borrowing, pressure on the rupee and less money for development.

Who are Pakistan’s trading partners?

Learn current partners from your course statistics, but the pattern is stable: the USA is a leading market for textiles; China is a leading source of machinery and manufactured goods and a growing partner through the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC); the UAE and Saudi Arabia supply oil; the UK and EU countries buy textiles, rice and leather; Afghanistan is a land neighbour that buys food and manufactured goods.

Why is it hard for Pakistan to increase its share of trade?

• Exports are concentrated in a few products, especially textiles, so falling prices or demand hit earnings hard.
• Competition from other low-cost producers of textiles and rice.
• Trade barriers such as tariffs, quotas and quality standards in richer markets.
• Energy shortages and high costs raise production costs.
• A weak or falling rupee makes imports dearer, though it can make exports cheaper abroad.
• Promoting factors: trading blocs and agreements such as SAARC, ECO and the EU’s GSP+ scheme, which lowers tariffs on many Pakistani exports.

How do transport networks vary across Pakistan?

Networks are densest across the Indus Plain of Punjab and Sindh, where flat land, many people, farms and industry make building roads and railways cheap and worthwhile. They are thinnest in Balochistan, the mountainous north and the deserts, where steep slopes, landslides, floods, snow, sand and sparse population raise costs and lower demand.

Recent improvements include motorways such as the M-2 Lahore–Islamabad, the Karakoram Highway upgrade, new airports such as the new Islamabad International Airport, and planned upgrading of the main Karachi–Peshawar railway line.

Mode	Advantages	Disadvantages
Road	Door-to-door; flexible; reaches villages	Congestion; accidents; fuel costs; damaged by floods
Rail	Cheap for bulky goods over long distances	Slow; old track and rolling stock; fixed routes
Air	Fast over long distances; links remote northern towns	Expensive; small loads; weather delays in the mountains

Which international routes and ports must you know?

• Roads: to China via the Khunjerab Pass (Karakoram Highway); to Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass (Torkham) and via Chaman near Quetta; to Iran via Taftan; to India at Wagah near Lahore.
• Railways: to Iran from Quetta via Taftan; the line to India via Wagah exists, but passenger services have been suspended since 2019, so check your course materials for its current status.
• Seaports: Keamari (Karachi Port), Port Qasim and Gwadar.
• International airports: including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan.

Dry ports are inland terminals where goods are cleared through customs and loaded into containers, so they travel sealed to and from the seaport by rail or road. Examples include Lahore and Faisalabad. They save time, reduce congestion at Karachi and help exporters in inland industrial cities.

Why do telecommunications matter for development?

Phones, the internet and email allow businesses to trade and bank online, schools to deliver distance learning, farmers to check prices, and services such as call centres to grow. Problems include high costs of building masts and cables in mountains and deserts, low population density, unreliable power and low incomes and literacy in some rural areas.

Frequently asked questions

What is a dry port? An inland customs terminal linked to a seaport by rail or road, where goods are cleared and containerised. Lahore has one.

Why does Pakistan have a trade deficit? It imports expensive oil, machinery and chemicals while its exports rely heavily on lower-value textiles and farm products.

Why are rail and road networks sparse in Balochistan? Mountains, plateaux and deserts raise building costs, and the low, scattered population means low demand.

Related pages

• Trade, Transport and Telecommunications revision notes
• Trade, Transport and Telecommunications practice questions
• Industrial Development study guide
• The Land of Pakistan study guide

Source: Cambridge International, Cambridge IGCSE Pakistan Studies 0448 syllabus for examination in 2026, Paper 2 Sections 6 and 7.