Doha, Qatar: As the GCC enters 2026, economic policy is being shaped by tighter external conditions, accelerating technological change and a more fragmented global trading system. The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are increasingly focused on broadening trade relationships, strengthening supply chain resilience, accelerating AI deployment, workforce adaptation, and strengthening fiscal management to support productivity growth and long-term competitiveness.
Jing Teow, Partner, Economic Policy and Strategy, PwC Middle East, said: “Having already mobilised capital and policy at scale, GCC governments are now focused on delivery. In 2026, the priority is strengthening economic resilience through more secure trade and investment relationships, effective AI deployment, managed workforce transitions and disciplined fiscal policy in a more challenging and fragmented global environment.”
GCC economies are accelerating trade diversification to secure access to growth markets and raw materials as global trade becomes more fragmented.
Bilateral agreements are expanding in parallel, led by the United Arab Emirates’ Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) programme covering more than two dozen partners and delivering doubledigit trade growth with markets including India, Türkiye and Indonesia. Trade policy is increasingly coordinated with investment-linked diplomacy,supporting deeper and more resilient trade relationships and strengthening the GCC’s position as a key node in emerging trade flows.
GCC economies are intensifying efforts to secure access to critical minerals as global demand rises and supply chains remain highly concentrated, particularly in rare earth processing and refining. Saudi Arabia is positioning mining as a major economic pillar by 2035, led by Maaden’s expansion across phosphate, aluminium, copper and emerging critical minerals.
Alongside upstream partnerships in Africa and Asia, GCC economies are also taking early steps towards domestic processing and logistics capabilities. Together, these moves are positioning the GCC as a strategic connector between African mineral supply and global industrial demand, as well as supporting industrial development and reducing exposure to concentrated global refining capacity over time.
In 2026, GCC economies are moving rapidly from AI ambition to large-scale deployment as investments in computing infrastructure ease earlier constraints on access to advanced compute, GPUs and sovereign cloud capacity.
