Operational Excellence: a Strategic Driver for Regional Growth

To reverse a years of deteriorating overall factor productivity, local labour market policy is moving from basic task development to managing active labor force transitions. Federal governments and companies are scaling short, modular training programs and micro-credentials in information analytics and digital operations to gear up employees for emerging roles. Workplace-based knowing and apprenticeship-style pathways are becoming more common as firms incorporate AI tools into day-to-day workflows.

With oil prices anticipated to typical $55-60 per barrel in 2026, regional governments are intensifying their concentrate on expenditure discipline and private capital mobilisation. Fiscal policy is rotating towards the monetisation of state-owned assets in logistics, energies, and desalination to redirect funds toward higher-impact investments. While loaning through sukuk and sustainability-linked bonds is anticipated to increase to fund strategic deficits, the focus stays on enhancing non-oil earnings frameworks.

PwC Middle East economic policy and strategy partner Jing Teow stated: "Having currently mobilised capital and policy at scale, GCC federal governments are now concentrated on shipment. In 2026, the priority is enhancing economic durability through more safe trade and investment relationships, reliable AI release, handled workforce shifts and disciplined fiscal policy in a more challenging and fragmented global environment.".

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Saudi Arabia and UAE are poised to lead the Gulf area's economic growth in 2026, supported by strong private-sector efficiency, resistant domestic need and restored financial investment momentum, according to the newest ICAEW Economic Insight Q4 2025 report, produced by Oxford Economics. The GCC is expected to outperform most international regions peers next year, with regional GDP projection to grow by 4.4%. Throughout the GCC, non-energy activity is projected to expand by 4.1% in 2026, driven by strong labour markets, enhancing credit conditions and rising financial investment in technology and AI-related infrastructure.

Although oil revenues will be under pressure in the very first half of 2026, production is expected to rise again in the 2nd half of 2026, supporting the region's medium-term outlook, it mentioned. Saudi Arabia will remain a significant contributor to GCC momentum, with GDP projection to grow 4.3% in 2026.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Driving Dubai Industrial Growth through Strategy

Development will be supported by industrial expansion and policy reforms, consisting of reduced foreign ownership rules that aim to promote further financial investment. The financial deficit is predicted to broaden to 5.6% of GDP next year in the middle of softer oil prices, while the recent five-year lease freeze in Riyadh aims to relieve inflationary pressures, though it might constrain future real estate supply.

Strong domestic fundamentalsThe UAE is also placed for another strong year of efficiency, with GDP forecast to rise 5.6% in 2026 as non-oil sectors continue to expand. Tourist, trade and monetary services remain essential development drivers, supported by population growth and sustained domestic demand. Dubai's economy grew 4.4% in the first half of 2025, reflecting broad-based non-oil strength.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Oil production is expected to get again in the 2nd half of 2026, complementing continuous financial investment in facilities, innovation and global trade partnerships. Hanadi Khalife, the Head of Middle East, ICAEW, said: "This quarter's outlook strengthens how far the GCC has can be found in building varied, resilient and worldwide competitive economies.

Scott Livermore, ICAEW Economic Consultant, and Chief Economist and Managing Director, Oxford Economics Middle East, stated: "Saudi Arabia and the UAE are entering 2026 with strong structures. Saudi non-oil activity is gaining pace, supported by robust demand and increasing financial investment, even as fiscal pressures increase.""The UAE continues to take advantage of solid domestic fundamentals, a sharp uplift in government costs and continual diversification efforts.

How to Optimise GCC Operations in 2026

What identifies 2026 from preceding years is not simply the velocity of technological modification, though that acceleration is real, but rather an essential shift in how business envisage their GCCs' purpose. The is anticipated to grow to 4 hundred thirteen billion dollars by 2040, but this development masks a more extensive improvement.

Rather, they ask whether these centers drive development, own profit-and-loss obligation, and contribute to competitive distinction. In 2026, the most successful GCCs will act like internal startups, nimble, cross-functional, insight-driven, and deeply aligned with international business results. This shift from execution to ownership represents perhaps the single most significant tactical recalibration in the GCC model's advancement.

Today, we're assembling more than 3000 conferences between investors and 119 Gulf-listed companies with a combined value of $2.4 trillion at the HSBC GCC Exchanges Conference 2026, in London. We're combining investors, companies, exchanges, and policymakers to discuss what is changing in the region, and what follows, consisting of the growth and continuous development of the Gulf's capital markets, and the region's growing function in worldwide networks of capital and trade.