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To reverse a years of compromising overall factor productivity, regional labour market policy is moving from simple task production to managing active workforce shifts. Governments and companies are scaling short, modular training programmes and micro-credentials in information analytics and digital operations to gear up workers for emerging functions. Workplace-based knowing and apprenticeship-style paths are becoming more common as companies incorporate AI tools into daily workflows.

With oil prices forecasted to average $55-60 per barrel in 2026, regional federal governments are magnifying their focus on expense discipline and private capital mobilisation. Financial policy is pivoting towards the monetisation of state-owned properties in logistics, utilities, and desalination to reroute funds towards higher-impact financial investments. While loaning via sukuk and sustainability-linked bonds is expected to increase to fund tactical deficits, the focus stays on enhancing non-oil income structures.

PwC Middle East economic policy and strategy partner Jing Teow stated: "Having currently mobilised capital and policy at scale, GCC federal governments are now focused on delivery. In 2026, the top priority is reinforcing financial strength through more safe trade and financial investment relationships, effective AI deployment, managed labor force shifts and disciplined financial policy in a more challenging and fragmented international environment.".

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Saudi Arabia and UAE are poised to lead the Gulf region's economic expansion in 2026, supported by strong private-sector performance, resilient domestic need and restored investment momentum, according to the newest ICAEW Economic Insight Q4 2025 report, produced by Oxford Economics. The GCC is expected to outshine most worldwide regions peers next year, with local GDP forecast 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 revenues will be under pressure in the very first half of 2026, production is anticipated to rise once again in the 2nd half of 2026, supporting the region's medium-term outlook, it specified. Saudi Arabia will remain a major contributor to GCC momentum, with GDP projection to grow 4.3% in 2026.

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Growth will be supported by commercial growth and policy reforms, consisting of relieved foreign ownership rules that intend to promote additional investment. The financial deficit is projected to widen to 5.6% of GDP next year in the middle of softer oil rates, while the recent five-year rent freeze in Riyadh intends to relieve inflationary pressures, though it might constrain future real estate supply.

Strong domestic fundamentalsThe UAE is likewise positioned for another strong year of efficiency, with GDP projection to rise 5.6% in 2026 as non-oil sectors continue to expand. Tourism, trade and financial services remain key development chauffeurs, supported by population growth and sustained domestic need. Dubai's economy grew 4.4% in the very first half of 2025, showing broad-based non-oil strength.

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Oil production is anticipated to pick up again in the 2nd half of 2026, complementing ongoing investment in infrastructure, innovation and international trade partnerships. Hanadi Khalife, the Head of Middle East, ICAEW, stated: "This quarter's outlook reinforces how far the GCC has actually been available in building varied, durable and globally competitive economies.

Scott Livermore, ICAEW Economic Consultant, and Chief Economic Expert 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 gaining rate, supported by robust need and rising financial investment, even as fiscal pressures increase.""The UAE continues to take advantage of strong domestic basics, a sharp uplift in federal government costs and sustained diversity efforts.

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What differentiates 2026 from preceding years is not just the acceleration of technological change, though that velocity is real, but rather a fundamental shift in how business envisage their GCCs' purpose. The is expected to grow to 4 hundred thirteen billion dollars by 2040, but this development masks a more profound transformation.

Rather, they ask whether these centers drive development, own profit-and-loss responsibility, and add to competitive distinction. In 2026, the most successful GCCs will behave like internal startups, agile, cross-functional, insight-driven, and deeply lined up with worldwide service outcomes. This shift from execution to ownership represents possibly the single most considerable strategic recalibration in the GCC model's development.

Today, we're assembling more than 3000 meetings 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 combining financiers, business, exchanges, and policymakers to discuss what is changing in the area, and what comes next, including the expansion and ongoing development of the Gulf's capital markets, and the region's growing role in worldwide networks of capital and trade.