Can Strategic Research Drive Dubai Industrial Success?

To reverse a years of damaging overall element performance, regional labour market policy is moving from simple job development to handling active workforce shifts. Federal governments and employers are scaling short, modular training programmes and micro-credentials in information analytics and digital operations to equip workers for emerging functions. Workplace-based knowing and apprenticeship-style paths are ending up being more common as firms integrate AI tools into day-to-day workflows.

With oil costs forecasted to average $55-60 per barrel in 2026, local federal governments are heightening their focus on expense discipline and personal capital mobilisation. Financial policy is rotating toward the monetisation of state-owned assets in logistics, utilities, and desalination to reroute funds toward higher-impact financial investments. While borrowing via sukuk and sustainability-linked bonds is anticipated to increase to money tactical deficits, the focus remains on enhancing 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 strengthening financial resilience through more safe trade and financial investment relationships, efficient AI deployment, managed workforce transitions and disciplined financial policy in a more challenging and fragmented global 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 performance, resilient domestic demand and renewed financial investment momentum, according to the current ICAEW Economic Insight Q4 2025 report, produced by Oxford Economics. The GCC is expected to surpass most international regions peers next year, with regional GDP projection to grow by 4.4%. Across the GCC, non-energy activity is projected to broaden by 4.1% in 2026, driven by strong labour markets, improving credit conditions and rising investment in technology and AI-related facilities.

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

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Essential Tips for Industrial Excellence in Dubai

Growth will be supported by industrial expansion and policy reforms, consisting of reduced foreign ownership rules that intend to promote more investment. The financial deficit is predicted to widen to 5.6% of GDP next year amidst softer oil rates, while the current five-year lease freeze in Riyadh intends to reduce inflationary pressures, though it might constrain future real estate supply.

Strong domestic fundamentalsThe UAE is also positioned for another strong year of performance, with GDP forecast to increase 5.6% in 2026 as non-oil sectors continue to expand. Tourism, trade and monetary services remain essential growth motorists, supported by population development and sustained domestic need. 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 anticipated to get again in the 2nd half of 2026, complementing continuous investment in facilities, technology and global 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, resistant and globally 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 acquiring pace, supported by robust need and rising investment, even as financial pressures increase.""The UAE continues to take advantage of strong domestic principles, a sharp uplift in federal government spending and continual diversity efforts.

Key Tips for Operational Excellence in the GCC

What differentiates 2026 from preceding years is not just the velocity of technological change, though that velocity is genuine, however rather a fundamental shift in how enterprises envisage their GCCs' function. The is anticipated to grow to four hundred thirteen billion dollars by 2040, but this development masks a more profound change.

Rather, they ask whether these centers drive development, own profit-and-loss duty, and contribute to competitive differentiation. In 2026, the most successful GCCs will act like internal start-ups, nimble, cross-functional, insight-driven, and deeply lined up with international business outcomes. This shift from execution to ownership represents maybe the single most significant tactical recalibration in the GCC model's evolution.

Today, we're convening more than 3000 conferences 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 bringing together financiers, business, exchanges, and policymakers to discuss what is changing in the region, and what comes next, consisting of the growth and continuous development of the Gulf's capital markets, and the area's growing role in global networks of capital and trade.