According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Abu Dhabi’s GDP is predicted to expand by 4.2 percent in 2025 and 5.8 percent in 2026. In the meantime, it is anticipated that Dubai’s GDP will grow by 3.3 percent in 2025 and 3.5 percent in 2026.
The GDP of Dubai is anticipated to grow by 3.3% in 2025 and 3.5% in 2026.
Jihad Azour, the director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia division, stated at a media conference hosted by the Dubai International Financial Centre and the IMF that he anticipates the UAE economy to expand by 4% in 2025.
During the media conference, the IMF also released its most recent regional outlook report, which sharply downgraded its growth forecast for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region from its October forecast of 4 percent growth to 2.6 percent in 2025.
“The region’s growth prospects are being weakened by the combination of prolonged oil production cuts and conflicts, as well as rising trade tensions and extraordinary global policy uncertainty,” the IMF stated.
The non-oil industry will propel the UAE’s expansion.
Despite downward adjustments in many other countries, Azour credited the UAE’s maintained growth prediction to the country’s non-oil sector’s excellent performance, infrastructure spending and expansion in important sectors like finance and real estate. He also expects growth to pick up speed in 2026, reaching 5 percent.
Azour further emphasized that the GCC governments’ responses to changes in the global market differ since they have different reserve levels and economic models.
The economies of the MENA region grew by an average of 1.8 percent in 2024, he continued and are predicted to grow by 2.6 percent in 2025 and 3.4 percent in 2026. The October 2024 predictions, which predicted growth of 4.2 percent for 2026 and 4 percent for 2025, have been revised downward to reflect these numbers.
According to the research, the IMF projects that the GCC economies will expand by 3.1 percent in 2026 and 3 percent in 2025. The UAE is expected to experience the fastest national growth, with projections indicating a 4% expansion in 2025 and a rise to 5% in 2026. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is anticipated to grow at a rate of 3% in 2025, followed by a 3.7% increase in 2026..
Abu Dhabi’s strong growth prediction follows preliminary statistical estimates from the Statistics Center – Abu Dhabi (SCAD) showing the emirate’s economy grew by 3.8 percent in 2024, hitting a record high of $326.71 billion.
The booming non-oil sector, which had a robust growth rate of 6.2 percent and its highest-ever annual contribution of 54.7 percent to total GDP, was the main driver of the emirate’s notable yearly economic growth.
Abu Dhabi maintained its record-high contribution of 54.7 percent to total GDP in the fourth quarter of 2024, with GDP growth of 4.4 percent and non-oil GDP growth of 6.6 percent. Abu Dhabi’s continued economic strength is demonstrated by the 2024 GDP data, which shows that both the total and non-oil GDPs hit record highs for the third year in a row.
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