UAE Non-Oil GDP Grows 1.8 Percent in the First Half, Lifting Its Share to 79.2 Percent
The UAE’s non-oil economy grew 1.8 percent in the first half of 2026 from a year earlier, raising its share of real GDP to 79.2 percent from 78.1 percent, according to preliminary estimates from the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre published on 9 October. Real GDP reached 961.9 billion dirhams at constant prices, up 0.4 percent, with oil activities accounting for the remaining 20.8 percent.
Finance and technology lead the non-oil economy
Financial and insurance activities grew fastest among the major activities, at 14.8 percent, more than double the 7.3 percent of information and communication, the next fastest, on our calculation.
UAE non-oil growth by activity, first half of 2026
| Activity | Annual growth |
|---|---|
| Financial and insurance | 14.8% |
| Information and communication | 7.3% |
| Health and social work | 6% |
| Construction | 5.1% |
| Government | 3.6% |
| Real estate | 2.3% |
Real growth at constant prices against the first half of 2025. Preliminary estimates.
Trade remains the largest non-oil activity
Trade accounted for 16.2 percent of non-oil GDP in the half, finance 15.2 percent, construction 13.1 percent, manufacturing 11.8 percent and real estate 7.9 percent. On our calculation, those 5 activities together made up 64.2 percent of non-oil GDP.
The 2 quarters diverged. First quarter real GDP, published in August at 485 billion dirhams, was up 3 percent with non-oil activity 4.8 percent higher. In the second quarter real GDP was 2.1 percent lower at 476.9 billion dirhams and non-oil activity 1.1 percent lower, with tourism, transport and trade affected by regional developments and travel disruption, the centre said.
Why it matters: Non-oil activity grew over the half as a whole, with finance, technology, health and construction recording the fastest rates, and it now accounts for nearly 4 of every 5 dirhams of real output. Financial and insurance activities, the fastest growing, are also the second largest non-oil activity at 15.2 percent, behind trade at 16.2 percent, on our reading.
Outlook: The estimates are preliminary. The centre is carrying out a comprehensive revision of the GDP series and will publish the updated national time series once the revision results are approved in the first quarter of 2027.
Sources: Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre, The Edge.
