Essential Steps for Operational Excellence in the GCC

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

With oil costs anticipated to typical $55-60 per barrel in 2026, regional federal governments are intensifying their concentrate on expenditure discipline and personal capital mobilisation. Financial policy is rotating towards the monetisation of state-owned properties in logistics, utilities, and desalination to redirect funds towards higher-impact financial investments. While borrowing through sukuk and sustainability-linked bonds is expected to increase to money tactical deficits, the focus stays on enhancing non-oil profits frameworks.

PwC Middle East financial policy and strategy partner Jing Teow said: "Having already mobilised capital and policy at scale, GCC governments are now concentrated on delivery. In 2026, the top priority is enhancing financial strength through more protected trade and investment relationships, efficient AI implementation, handled workforce shifts and disciplined financial policy in a more tough and fragmented worldwide 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 efficiency, resistant domestic need and renewed financial investment momentum, according to the most recent ICAEW Economic Insight Q4 2025 report, produced by Oxford Economics. The GCC is expected to exceed most global areas peers next year, with regional 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, improving credit conditions and increasing financial investment in technology and AI-related infrastructure.

Oil earnings will be under pressure in the first half of 2026, production is expected to rise again in the second half of 2026, supporting the region's medium-term outlook, it stated. Saudi Arabia will stay a major contributor to GCC momentum, with GDP forecast to grow 4.3% in 2026.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Accelerating Dubai Corporate Expansion through Strategy

Growth will be supported by commercial expansion and policy reforms, including reduced foreign ownership guidelines that intend to stimulate additional investment. The fiscal deficit is predicted to expand to 5.6% of GDP next year in the middle of softer oil rates, while the current five-year rent freeze in Riyadh intends to reduce inflationary pressures, though it might constrain future housing supply.

Strong domestic fundamentalsThe UAE is also placed 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 monetary services remain crucial growth chauffeurs, 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.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Oil production is anticipated to get once again in the second half of 2026, matching continuous investment in facilities, innovation and worldwide trade collaborations. Hanadi Khalife, the Head of Middle East, ICAEW, said: "This quarter's outlook reinforces how far the GCC has actually can be found in building diverse, resilient and worldwide competitive economies.

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

How to Secure a Competitive Edge in 2026

What distinguishes 2026 from preceding years is not simply the velocity of technological change, though that acceleration is real, but rather a basic shift in how enterprises envisage their GCCs' function. The is expected to grow to four hundred thirteen billion dollars by 2040, but this growth 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 startups, nimble, cross-functional, insight-driven, and deeply lined up with international business outcomes. This shift from execution to ownership represents perhaps the single most substantial strategic recalibration in the GCC design's evolution.

Today, we're convening more than 3000 meetings 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 uniting financiers, business, exchanges, and policymakers to discuss what is changing in the area, and what follows, consisting of the growth and continuous advancement of the Gulf's capital markets, and the region's growing role in global networks of capital and trade.