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To reverse a decade of deteriorating total element efficiency, regional labour market policy is moving from basic task development 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 equip workers for emerging functions. Workplace-based knowing and apprenticeship-style paths are becoming more common as firms integrate AI tools into everyday workflows.

With oil costs anticipated to average $55-60 per barrel in 2026, local federal governments are intensifying their concentrate on expense discipline and personal capital mobilisation. Fiscal policy is rotating toward the monetisation of state-owned assets in logistics, energies, and desalination to redirect funds towards higher-impact investments. While loaning via sukuk and sustainability-linked bonds is expected to increase to fund strategic deficits, the focus stays on reinforcing non-oil revenue frameworks.

PwC Middle East financial policy and technique partner Jing Teow said: "Having already mobilised capital and policy at scale, GCC governments are now focused on shipment. In 2026, the concern is enhancing economic resilience through more protected trade and financial investment relationships, reliable AI deployment, handled workforce transitions and disciplined fiscal policy in a more challenging and fragmented worldwide environment.".

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

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

Oil earnings will be under pressure in the first half of 2026, production is expected to rise once again in the second half of 2026, supporting the region's medium-term outlook, it mentioned. Saudi Arabia will remain a major contributor to GCC momentum, with GDP projection to grow 4.3% in 2026.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

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Growth will be supported by commercial growth and policy reforms, including reduced foreign ownership rules that aim to stimulate further investment. The financial deficit is forecasted to expand to 5.6% of GDP next year amid softer oil rates, while the recent five-year rent freeze in Riyadh aims to ease inflationary pressures, though it may constrain future real estate supply.

Strong domestic fundamentalsThe UAE is also placed for another strong year of efficiency, with GDP projection to increase 5.6% in 2026 as non-oil sectors continue to expand. Tourist, trade and financial services remain key growth chauffeurs, supported by population development and sustained domestic need. Dubai's economy grew 4.4% in the first half of 2025, showing broad-based non-oil strength.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Oil production is anticipated to select up once again in the second half of 2026, matching continuous investment in facilities, technology and international trade partnerships. Hanadi Khalife, the Head of Middle East, ICAEW, said: "This quarter's outlook reinforces how far the GCC has actually been available in structure varied, durable and internationally competitive economies.

Scott Livermore, ICAEW Economic Consultant, and Chief Financial Expert and Managing Director, Oxford Economics Middle East, said: "Saudi Arabia and the UAE are entering 2026 with strong structures. Saudi non-oil activity is acquiring pace, supported by robust need and rising investment, even as financial pressures increase.""The UAE continues to take advantage of solid domestic basics, a sharp uplift in federal government costs and continual diversity efforts.

Emerging Strategic Shifts Shaping the 2026 Regional Economy

What differentiates 2026 from preceding years is not simply the acceleration of technological modification, though that acceleration is genuine, but rather a basic shift in how business develop of their GCCs' purpose. The is expected to grow to 4 hundred thirteen billion dollars by 2040, but this growth masks a more profound change.

Instead, they ask whether these centers drive innovation, own profit-and-loss responsibility, and contribute to competitive differentiation. In 2026, the most successful GCCs will behave like internal startups, agile, cross-functional, insight-driven, and deeply lined up with global organization results. This shift from execution to ownership represents perhaps the single most substantial strategic recalibration in the GCC design's development.

This week, we're convening more than 3000 conferences between financiers and 119 Gulf-listed business with a combined worth of $2.4 trillion at the HSBC GCC Exchanges Conference 2026, in London. We're uniting investors, business, exchanges, and policymakers to discuss what is altering in the region, and what comes next, consisting of the growth and ongoing advancement of the Gulf's capital markets, and the area's growing role in global networks of capital and trade.