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3.2 percent growth in 2025, speeding up to 4.5 percent in 2026. Sees momentum improving, with GCC output development forecasted to rise from 1.7 percent in 2024 to 3.3 percent on average in 2025, showing a shift toward more positive general conditions.
Emerging Strategic Shifts Shaping the 2026 Regional Economy
The IMF's World Economic Outlook (October 2025) projects international growth relieving to 3.1 percent in 2026, with advanced economies around 1.5 percent and emerging market and establishing economies just above 4 percent. On that contrast, a 4.44.5 percent GCC growth would put the area materially ahead of the world average and a little above (or broadly in line with) the emerging-market aggregate, strengthening the GCC's status as a reasonably high-growth pocketprovided that regional risk conditions remain included and reform momentum holds.
Emerging Strategic Shifts Shaping the 2026 Regional EconomyInformation from the GCC Statistical Center show that non-oil sectors already account for more than 73 percent of overall GDP, a share that has actually continued to rise as governments broaden financial investment in services, infrastructure, and innovation. According to Oxford Economics, non-energy activity across the GCC is forecasted to grow by around 4.1 percent in 2026, supported by strong labor markets, improving credit conditions, and increasing financial investment in innovation and AI-related facilities.
Public-sector investment and reform remain main to sustaining this pattern. Policy procedures focused on attracting foreign direct investment, easing foreign ownership rules, broadening capital markets, and supporting private-sector involvement continue to underpin non-oil growth and decrease the area's exposure to oil price volatility. While hydrocarbons no longer control the growth outlook, oil incomes are anticipated to play a supportive role in 2026.
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