Key Steps for Industrial Excellence in the GCC

To reverse a decade of deteriorating total factor performance, local labour market policy is moving from basic job development to handling active workforce transitions. Federal governments and companies are scaling short, modular training programmes and micro-credentials in information analytics and digital operations to equip employees for emerging roles. Workplace-based knowing and apprenticeship-style pathways are becoming more typical as companies incorporate AI tools into everyday workflows.

With oil rates forecasted to average $55-60 per barrel in 2026, local governments are intensifying their concentrate on expense discipline and personal capital mobilisation. Financial policy is pivoting towards the monetisation of state-owned properties in logistics, energies, and desalination to redirect funds towards higher-impact investments. While borrowing 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 method partner Jing Teow said: "Having currently mobilised capital and policy at scale, GCC governments are now focused on shipment. In 2026, the top priority is strengthening financial resilience through more safe trade and financial investment relationships, reliable AI release, managed labor force transitions and disciplined financial 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 financial expansion in 2026, supported by strong private-sector performance, resistant domestic demand 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 global regions peers next year, with regional GDP projection 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, enhancing credit conditions and increasing financial investment in innovation and AI-related infrastructure.

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

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

How to Maintain a Leading Advantage in 2026

Growth will be supported by industrial expansion and policy reforms, including alleviated foreign ownership guidelines that aim to promote further financial investment. The fiscal deficit is projected to broaden to 5.6% of GDP next year amidst softer oil prices, while the recent five-year rent freeze in Riyadh aims to relieve inflationary pressures, though it may constrain future housing supply.

Strong domestic fundamentalsThe UAE is also placed for another strong year of efficiency, with GDP forecast to rise 5.6% in 2026 as non-oil sectors continue to broaden. Tourism, trade and financial services remain crucial growth motorists, supported by population development and continual domestic demand. 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 once again in the second half of 2026, matching ongoing financial investment in infrastructure, innovation and worldwide trade collaborations. Hanadi Khalife, the Head of Middle East, ICAEW, stated: "This quarter's outlook enhances how far the GCC has come in building diverse, durable and globally competitive economies.

Scott Livermore, ICAEW Economic Advisor, and Chief Economist and Managing Director, Oxford Economics Middle East, said: "Saudi Arabia and the UAE are going into 2026 with strong foundations. Saudi non-oil activity is getting pace, supported by robust need and increasing financial investment, even as financial pressures increase.""The UAE continues to benefit from solid domestic basics, a sharp uplift in federal government costs and sustained diversification efforts.

Predicting the 2026 GCC Corporate Environment

What identifies 2026 from preceding years is not simply the velocity of technological change, though that velocity is real, but rather an essential shift in how business develop of their GCCs' purpose. The is expected to grow to 4 hundred thirteen billion dollars by 2040, but this development masks a more profound improvement.

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, agile, cross-functional, insight-driven, and deeply lined up with international organization results. This shift from execution to ownership represents maybe the single most considerable strategic recalibration in the GCC model's evolution.

Today, we're assembling 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 bringing together investors, companies, exchanges, and policymakers to discuss what is altering in the region, and what comes next, including the growth and ongoing development of the Gulf's capital markets, and the region's growing role in global networks of capital and trade.