Can Market Research Drive Middle East Corporate Growth?

To reverse a years of compromising overall factor productivity, local labour market policy is moving from simple task production to managing active workforce transitions. Governments and employers are scaling short, modular training programs and micro-credentials in information analytics and digital operations to equip employees for emerging functions. Workplace-based learning and apprenticeship-style paths are becoming more common as firms integrate AI tools into day-to-day workflows.

With oil rates anticipated to average $55-60 per barrel in 2026, regional governments are magnifying their focus on expense discipline and private capital mobilisation. Financial policy is rotating toward the monetisation of state-owned assets in logistics, energies, and desalination to reroute funds toward higher-impact investments. While loaning by means of sukuk and sustainability-linked bonds is anticipated to increase to money strategic deficits, the focus stays on enhancing non-oil revenue frameworks.

PwC Middle East financial policy and technique partner Jing Teow stated: "Having currently mobilised capital and policy at scale, GCC federal governments are now concentrated on delivery. In 2026, the priority is reinforcing economic strength through more protected trade and investment relationships, effective AI deployment, managed workforce transitions and disciplined fiscal policy in a more tough and fragmented global environment.".

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Saudi Arabia and UAE are poised to lead the Gulf region's economic expansion in 2026, supported by strong private-sector performance, resistant domestic demand and renewed investment momentum, according to the current ICAEW Economic Insight Q4 2025 report, produced by Oxford Economics. The GCC is anticipated to surpass most international areas peers next year, with local GDP projection to grow by 4.4%. Across the GCC, non-energy activity is predicted to broaden by 4.1% in 2026, driven by strong labour markets, improving credit conditions and rising investment in technology and AI-related infrastructure.

Although oil revenues will be under pressure in the very first half of 2026, production is anticipated to increase once again in the 2nd half of 2026, supporting the area's medium-term outlook, it mentioned. Saudi Arabia will stay a significant factor to GCC momentum, with GDP forecast to grow 4.3% in 2026.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Reviewing New GCC Data for Strategic Growth

Growth will be supported by commercial expansion and policy reforms, including relieved foreign ownership rules that aim to promote further investment. The financial deficit is projected to broaden to 5.6% of GDP next year in the middle of softer oil rates, while the recent five-year lease freeze in Riyadh aims to alleviate inflationary pressures, though it may constrain future real estate supply.

Strong domestic fundamentalsThe UAE is likewise placed for another strong year of performance, with GDP projection to rise 5.6% in 2026 as non-oil sectors continue to broaden. Tourist, trade and financial services remain essential 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 get again in the 2nd half of 2026, complementing ongoing investment in infrastructure, innovation and worldwide trade partnerships. Hanadi Khalife, the Head of Middle East, ICAEW, stated: "This quarter's outlook enhances how far the GCC has been available in building diverse, resilient and globally competitive economies.

Scott Livermore, ICAEW Economic Advisor, and Chief Economic Expert and Managing Director, Oxford Economics Middle East, stated: "Saudi Arabia and the UAE are getting in 2026 with strong structures. Saudi non-oil activity is getting pace, supported by robust demand and increasing investment, even as financial pressures increase.""The UAE continues to benefit from strong domestic fundamentals, a sharp uplift in government spending and sustained diversity efforts.

Reviewing New GCC Research for Strategic Growth

What differentiates 2026 from preceding years is not merely the velocity of technological modification, though that acceleration is real, but rather a fundamental shift in how business conceive of their GCCs' purpose. The is expected to grow to four hundred thirteen billion dollars by 2040, however this growth masks a more extensive change.

Rather, they ask whether these centers drive development, own profit-and-loss responsibility, and contribute to competitive differentiation. In 2026, the most effective GCCs will behave like internal startups, nimble, cross-functional, insight-driven, and deeply lined up with international company results. This shift from execution to ownership represents maybe the single most significant tactical recalibration in the GCC model's advancement.

This week, we're convening more than 3000 meetings in 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 financiers, companies, exchanges, and policymakers to discuss what is changing in the area, and what comes next, including the expansion and ongoing advancement of the Gulf's capital markets, and the region's growing function in global networks of capital and trade.