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The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) forecasts that Saudi Arabia and the UAE will lead the Gulf’s financial growth in 2026, pushed by strong private-sector exercise, resilient home demand, and advancing diversification efforts.
In line with the ICAEW Financial Perception This fall 2025 report, produced by Oxford Economics, the GCC’s GDP is anticipated to develop by 4.4 per cent in 2026, outpacing most international areas.
Non-energy exercise throughout the area is about to broaden by 4.1 per cent, supported by enhancing credit score situations, labour market power, and rising funding in expertise and AI-related infrastructure. Shopper spending is forecast to extend by a mean of three.5 per ent over 2026–2027.
Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economic system is forecast to develop by 5 per cent, supported by industrial growth, international funding reforms, and sustained Imaginative and prescient 2030 spending. Regardless of fiscal pressures and a projected deficit of 5.6 per cent of GDP, the Kingdom’s non-oil exports have risen 17.1 per cent year-to-date, with enterprise confidence at decade highs.
The UAE economic system is projected to develop 5.6 per cent in 2026, underpinned by inhabitants progress, sturdy tourism, commerce, and monetary providers. Dubai’s economic system expanded 4.4 per cent within the first half of 2025, reflecting broad-based non-oil features.
Greater federal spending in 2026, aligned with the We the UAE 2031 technique, will reinforce long-term progress, alongside an anticipated restoration in oil manufacturing within the 12 months’s second half.
Hanadi Khalife, Head of Center East, ICAEW, stated: “This quarter’s outlook reinforces how far the GCC has are available in constructing various, resilient and globally aggressive economies. With Saudi Arabia and the UAE driving momentum by way of non-oil growth, funding in expertise and long-term improvement planning, the area is effectively positioned to navigate international uncertainties and proceed shaping its function as an financial chief.”
Scott Livermore, ICAEW Financial Advisor and Chief Economist at Oxford Economics Center East, added: “Saudi Arabia and the UAE are getting into 2026 with sturdy foundations. Whereas the OPEC+ pause will weigh on oil progress early within the 12 months, easing monetary situations and increasing non-oil economies ought to underpin one other 12 months of stable efficiency.”
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