Operational Excellence: a Key Pillar for 2026 Growth

To reverse a years of deteriorating overall factor performance, local labour market policy is moving from easy job creation to handling active workforce transitions. Federal governments and companies are scaling short, modular training programmes and micro-credentials in data analytics and digital operations to gear up workers for emerging functions. Workplace-based learning and apprenticeship-style paths are becoming more typical as firms integrate AI tools into day-to-day workflows.

With oil costs forecasted to typical $55-60 per barrel in 2026, regional governments are heightening their focus on expenditure discipline and personal capital mobilisation. Financial policy is pivoting towards the monetisation of state-owned possessions in logistics, utilities, and desalination to redirect funds toward higher-impact financial investments. While borrowing by means of sukuk and sustainability-linked bonds is expected to increase to money strategic deficits, the focus stays on enhancing non-oil earnings structures.

PwC Middle East financial policy and strategy partner Jing Teow stated: "Having already mobilised capital and policy at scale, GCC governments are now concentrated on shipment. In 2026, the concern is strengthening financial resilience through more secure trade and financial investment relationships, effective AI deployment, managed labor force shifts and disciplined fiscal policy in a more challenging and fragmented international environment.".

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

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

Although oil profits will be under pressure in the first half of 2026, production is anticipated 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+

Operational Excellence: a Strategic Driver for Regional Growth

Growth will be supported by industrial growth and policy reforms, including reduced foreign ownership guidelines that intend to promote more investment. The fiscal deficit is projected to broaden to 5.6% of GDP next year amid softer oil costs, while the recent five-year lease freeze in Riyadh aims to reduce inflationary pressures, though it may constrain future housing supply.

Strong domestic fundamentalsThe UAE is likewise positioned for another strong year of performance, with GDP projection to increase 5.6% in 2026 as non-oil sectors continue to broaden. Tourism, trade and monetary services stay crucial development drivers, supported by population development and continual domestic demand. Dubai's economy grew 4.4% in the very first half of 2025, showing broad-based non-oil strength.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Oil production is expected to get once again in the 2nd half of 2026, matching continuous financial investment in infrastructure, technology and worldwide trade partnerships. Hanadi Khalife, the Head of Middle East, ICAEW, stated: "This quarter's outlook strengthens how far the GCC has come in building varied, durable and worldwide competitive economies.

Scott Livermore, ICAEW Economic Advisor, and Chief Financial Expert and Handling Director, Oxford Economics Middle East, stated: "Saudi Arabia and the UAE are entering 2026 with strong structures. Saudi non-oil activity is getting rate, supported by robust demand and increasing investment, even as financial pressures increase.""The UAE continues to gain from strong domestic basics, a sharp uplift in federal government costs and continual diversification efforts.

Predicting the 2026 GCC Business Landscape

What identifies 2026 from preceding years is not merely the velocity of technological change, though that acceleration is real, however rather an essential shift in how business develop of their GCCs' function. The is anticipated to grow to four hundred thirteen billion dollars by 2040, but this growth masks a more extensive transformation.

Rather, they ask whether these centers drive innovation, own profit-and-loss duty, and contribute to competitive differentiation. In 2026, the most successful GCCs will behave like internal start-ups, agile, cross-functional, insight-driven, and deeply lined up with worldwide business results. This shift from execution to ownership represents possibly the single most considerable strategic recalibration in the GCC model's development.

Today, we're assembling more than 3000 meetings between financiers and 119 Gulf-listed business with a combined value of $2.4 trillion at the HSBC GCC Exchanges Conference 2026, in London. We're bringing together financiers, business, exchanges, and policymakers to discuss what is altering in the region, and what follows, including the growth and continuous advancement of the Gulf's capital markets, and the area's growing function in worldwide networks of capital and trade.