Predicting the 2026 GCC Business Environment

El Houni asked the speakers to share what keeps them "on-point" at work and what recommendations they have for the audience. Hamad Al Hajri, CEO and Founder of Snoonu said it was "crucial to construct limits" in between work and individual life and take brief holidays to "detach" from the workplace.

Karim Benkirane, CCO of Du, said: "If you make the people you work with delighted, you will make the customer happy, who will then make the investors delighted."Ambareen Musa, CEO for Revolut GCC, stated the capability to "not worry" is the crucial to discovering a service for issues.

Today, we're convening more than 3000 conferences in between investors and 119 Gulf-listed companies with a combined worth of $2.4 trillion at the HSBC GCC Exchanges Conference 2026, in London. We're bringing together financiers, business, exchanges, and policymakers to discuss what is altering in the area, and what comes next, including the growth and ongoing advancement of the Gulf's capital markets, and the region's growing function in global networks of capital and trade.

Saudi Arabia and UAE are poised to lead the Gulf area's economic growth in 2026, supported by strong private-sector efficiency, resistant domestic need and restored financial investment momentum, according to the most recent ICAEW Economic Insight Q4 2025 report, produced by Oxford Economics. The GCC is expected to outperform most worldwide areas peers next year, with local GDP forecast to grow by 4.4%. Across the GCC, non-energy activity is forecasted to broaden by 4.1% in 2026, driven by strong labour markets, enhancing credit conditions and rising financial investment in technology and AI-related facilities.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Emerging Future Shifts Defining the 2026 GCC Economy

Although oil incomes will be under pressure in the very first half of 2026, production is expected to rise once again in the second half of 2026, supporting the area's medium-term outlook, it stated. Saudi Arabia will remain a major contributor to GCC momentum, with GDP projection to grow 4.3% in 2026.

Growth will be supported by commercial expansion and policy reforms, including reduced foreign ownership rules that aim to promote more financial investment. The financial deficit is projected to widen to 5.6% of GDP next year amid softer oil costs, while the current five-year rent freeze in Riyadh aims to relieve inflationary pressures, though it may constrain future real estate supply.

Strong domestic fundamentalsThe UAE is likewise placed for another strong year of efficiency, with GDP projection to rise 5.6% in 2026 as non-oil sectors continue to broaden. Tourism, trade and monetary services stay crucial growth motorists, supported by population growth and continual 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 expected to get again in the 2nd half of 2026, complementing ongoing investment in facilities, technology and worldwide trade collaborations. Hanadi Khalife, the Head of Middle East, ICAEW, stated: "This quarter's outlook reinforces how far the GCC has been available in structure diverse, resistant and internationally competitive economies.

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

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GCC countries are rotating towards a strategy of 'resilience over growth' getting in 2026, as the region gets ready for a worldwide landscape specified by softer oil rates, geopolitical fragmentation, and the rapid shift to an AI-enabled economy. According to a new local outlook by PwC, the GCC is relocating to insulate its growth from external shocks by deepening global trade integration, protecting industrial supply chains, and carrying out a decisive shift from innovation aspiration to operational application.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Negotiations for Free Trade Agreements with China, the EU, and Japan are advancing, while talks with the UK have actually gone into last preparing stages. The region is significantly positioning itself as a main center for east-west trade through the IndiaMiddle EastEurope Economic Passage (IMEC). To support domestic manufacturing, securing critical minerals has ended up being a strategic concern.