Comparing Legacy Systems and Future Business Strategies

To reverse a decade of damaging overall factor productivity, local labour market policy is moving from basic task production to managing active workforce transitions. Federal governments and companies are scaling short, modular training programmes and micro-credentials in information analytics and digital operations to gear up workers for emerging roles. Workplace-based learning and apprenticeship-style pathways are becoming more common as firms incorporate AI tools into everyday workflows.

With oil prices forecasted to average $55-60 per barrel in 2026, regional governments are intensifying their focus on expenditure discipline and personal capital mobilisation. Fiscal policy is rotating toward the monetisation of state-owned possessions in logistics, utilities, and desalination to redirect funds toward higher-impact investments. While borrowing via sukuk and sustainability-linked bonds is anticipated to increase to money strategic deficits, the focus stays on strengthening non-oil profits structures.

PwC Middle East economic policy and method partner Jing Teow said: "Having currently mobilised capital and policy at scale, GCC governments are now focused on delivery. In 2026, the concern is enhancing financial strength through more secure trade and financial investment relationships, efficient AI deployment, managed workforce shifts and disciplined financial policy in a more tough and fragmented international environment.".

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

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 current ICAEW Economic Insight Q4 2025 report, produced by Oxford Economics. The GCC is anticipated to exceed most international regions peers next year, with regional GDP projection to grow by 4.4%. Throughout the GCC, non-energy activity is forecasted to expand by 4.1% in 2026, driven by strong labour markets, enhancing credit conditions and increasing investment in innovation and AI-related facilities.

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

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Reviewing New Market Data for Future Growth

Growth will be supported by industrial expansion and policy reforms, including relieved foreign ownership rules that aim to stimulate more financial investment. The financial deficit is forecasted to widen to 5.6% of GDP next year in the middle of softer oil costs, while the recent five-year lease freeze in Riyadh intends to ease inflationary pressures, though it may constrain future real estate supply.

Strong domestic fundamentalsThe UAE is also positioned for another strong year of efficiency, with GDP forecast to rise 5.6% in 2026 as non-oil sectors continue to broaden. Tourist, trade and monetary services remain essential development drivers, supported by population development and sustained domestic need. Dubai's economy grew 4.4% in the very first half of 2025, showing broad-based non-oil strength.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Oil production is anticipated to get again in the second half of 2026, complementing ongoing financial investment in infrastructure, innovation and international trade collaborations. Hanadi Khalife, the Head of Middle East, ICAEW, said: "This quarter's outlook enhances how far the GCC has come in structure diverse, resistant and internationally competitive economies.

Scott Livermore, ICAEW Economic Consultant, and Chief Financial Expert and Handling Director, Oxford Economics Middle East, stated: "Saudi Arabia and the UAE are getting in 2026 with strong structures. Saudi non-oil activity is acquiring speed, supported by robust need and increasing financial investment, even as financial pressures increase.""The UAE continues to take advantage of solid domestic principles, a sharp uplift in federal government costs and continual diversity efforts.

How to Secure a Leading Advantage in Dubai

What identifies 2026 from preceding years is not merely the velocity of technological change, though that acceleration is genuine, however rather an essential shift in how enterprises envisage 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 obligation, and add to competitive differentiation. In 2026, the most successful GCCs will act like internal startups, agile, cross-functional, insight-driven, and deeply aligned with worldwide organization results. This shift from execution to ownership represents perhaps the single most considerable tactical recalibration in the GCC design's advancement.

Today, we're convening more than 3000 conferences between investors and 119 Gulf-listed business with a combined worth of $2.4 trillion at the HSBC GCC Exchanges Conference 2026, in London. We're combining financiers, business, exchanges, and policymakers to discuss what is changing in the region, and what follows, consisting of the expansion and continuous advancement of the Gulf's capital markets, and the region's growing role in worldwide networks of capital and trade.