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To reverse a decade of compromising total element efficiency, local labour market policy is moving from basic task development to managing active labor force shifts. Governments and employers are scaling short, modular training programmes and micro-credentials in information analytics and digital operations to equip employees for emerging roles. Workplace-based learning and apprenticeship-style pathways are becoming more typical as firms integrate AI tools into daily workflows.
With oil costs anticipated to typical $55-60 per barrel in 2026, local federal governments are magnifying their concentrate on expense discipline and personal capital mobilisation. Fiscal policy is rotating towards the monetisation of state-owned properties in logistics, energies, and desalination to reroute funds toward higher-impact financial investments. While borrowing by means of sukuk and sustainability-linked bonds is anticipated to increase to money tactical deficits, the focus stays on enhancing non-oil revenue structures.
PwC Middle East financial policy and technique partner Jing Teow said: "Having currently mobilised capital and policy at scale, GCC governments are now focused on delivery. In 2026, the concern is reinforcing financial resilience through more safe trade and financial investment relationships, effective AI release, managed workforce shifts and disciplined fiscal policy in a more tough and fragmented worldwide environment.".

Saudi Arabia and UAE are poised to lead the Gulf area's financial expansion in 2026, supported by strong private-sector efficiency, durable domestic demand and restored investment momentum, according to the most recent ICAEW Economic Insight Q4 2025 report, produced by Oxford Economics. The GCC is expected to exceed most international regions peers next year, with regional GDP forecast to grow by 4.4%. Throughout the GCC, non-energy activity is forecasted to broaden by 4.1% in 2026, driven by strong labour markets, improving credit conditions and rising investment in innovation and AI-related infrastructure.
Although oil profits will be under pressure in the very first half of 2026, production is anticipated to increase again in the 2nd half of 2026, supporting the area's medium-term outlook, it stated. Saudi Arabia will stay a major factor to GCC momentum, with GDP projection to grow 4.3% in 2026.

Development will be supported by industrial growth and policy reforms, including relieved foreign ownership rules that aim to stimulate further financial investment. The fiscal deficit is forecasted to broaden to 5.6% of GDP next year amid softer oil rates, while the recent five-year lease freeze in Riyadh intends to reduce inflationary pressures, though it may constrain future real estate supply.
Strong domestic fundamentalsThe UAE is also positioned for another strong year of performance, with GDP projection to increase 5.6% in 2026 as non-oil sectors continue to expand. Tourism, trade and financial services remain crucial growth drivers, supported by population development and sustained domestic demand. Dubai's economy grew 4.4% in the first half of 2025, reflecting broad-based non-oil strength.

Oil production is anticipated to get again in the 2nd half of 2026, complementing ongoing investment in facilities, innovation and international trade partnerships. Hanadi Khalife, the Head of Middle East, ICAEW, stated: "This quarter's outlook strengthens how far the GCC has actually come in building diverse, resilient and worldwide 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 foundations. Saudi non-oil activity is acquiring speed, supported by robust demand and rising financial investment, even as fiscal pressures increase.""The UAE continues to take advantage of solid domestic fundamentals, a sharp uplift in government spending and continual diversity efforts.
Mapping GCC Corporate Strategy for 2026What identifies 2026 from preceding years is not merely the acceleration of technological modification, though that acceleration is genuine, however rather a fundamental shift in how business envisage their GCCs' function. The is expected to grow to 4 hundred thirteen billion dollars by 2040, however this growth masks a more profound change.
Rather, they ask whether these centers drive innovation, own profit-and-loss responsibility, and add to competitive distinction. In 2026, the most successful GCCs will behave like internal start-ups, nimble, cross-functional, insight-driven, and deeply lined up with global organization results. This shift from execution to ownership represents maybe the single most substantial tactical recalibration in the GCC design's development.
This week, we're convening more than 3000 conferences in between investors 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, companies, exchanges, and policymakers to discuss what is altering in the area, and what comes next, consisting of the expansion and continuous development of the Gulf's capital markets, and the area's growing function in worldwide networks of capital and trade.
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