2026-08-04
The UAE economy grew 3% year on year in the first quarter of 2026, with real GDP reaching AED 485 billion, about $132 billion, according to data released by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre on 4 August 2026. The more telling number sits underneath the headline: non-oil GDP expanded 4.8%, lifting the non-oil share of the economy to 79.4%, up from 78.0% in 2025. Financial and insurance activities grew a striking 17.3%, the fastest of any sector, and non-oil exports jumped 23.9% in the first half of the year to AED 452.8 billion on the back of the country’s expanding network of trade agreements. For anyone deciding where to base a company, the message from the data is consistent: the Emirates keeps growing, and the growth is coming from exactly the sectors where foreign business operates.
The headline numbers
The Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre put first-quarter real GDP at AED 485 billion, 3% above the same period of 2025. Non-oil GDP rose 4.8%, well ahead of the economy-wide figure, which means the expansion is being generated by trade, services, construction and finance rather than by hydrocarbons.
The share of non-oil activities in the national economy reached 79.4% in the first quarter, compared with 78.0% across 2025. That shift of nearly one and a half percentage points in a matter of quarters is the practical measure of the UAE’s diversification drive under the We the UAE 2031 vision, which targets a doubling of GDP by the end of the decade. Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq said the results reflect the country’s transition towards a more diversified and sustainable economic model.
Finance leads: how the sectors performed
The sector table is where the quarter gets interesting. Financial and insurance activities grew 17.3% year on year, by far the strongest performance in the economy, and contributed 2.44 percentage points of the overall 3% growth, more than any other sector. The Emirates’ banks have been reporting record profits, capital keeps flowing into Dubai and Abu Dhabi as regional wealth hubs, and that momentum is now visible in the national accounts.
The rest of the top of the table reads as follows, all year on year:
- Financial and insurance activities: +17.3%
- Construction: +8.1%, contributing 1.04 percentage points to growth
- Human health and social work: +7.7%
- Information and communication: +5.9%
- Professional, scientific and technical activities: +4.9%
- Real estate: +4.8%
- Public administration and defence: +4.5%
- Wholesale and retail trade: +2.6%
Two things stand out. First, the growth is broad: eight major non-oil sectors are all expanding at once. Second, the fastest-growing sectors, finance, construction, health, technology and professional services, are precisely the ones populated by international firms, licensed free zone companies and relocated professionals. The 17.3% figure for finance is not an abstraction; it is more banking activity, more insurance underwriting, more fund administration and more fintech licensing happening on the ground.
Exports at AED 452.8 billion: the trade agreements are working
Alongside the GDP release, the data showed non-oil exports up 23.9% in the first half of 2026, reaching AED 452.8 billion. The government links the surge directly to the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements the UAE has been signing since 2021, a network that has reached 38 CEPAs covering markets from India to Canada. Each agreement lowers tariffs and procedural barriers for goods routed through UAE entities, and the export line in the national statistics is where that policy shows up as revenue.
For trading companies the implication is structural rather than seasonal. A company licensed in the UAE now sits inside a web of preferential access that very few jurisdictions can match, and the first-half export figure suggests businesses are actively using it, not just admiring it.
What this means for business
- The UAE market is expanding at 3% overall and 4.8% outside oil, so demand for goods and services is growing across the board, not in one niche.
- Finance grew 17.3%: banks are profitable, liquid and competing for corporate clients, which is a good environment for opening accounts and raising working capital.
- Construction at 8.1% and real estate at 4.8% signal continued demand for commercial space, fit-out, materials and related services.
- Health at 7.7% and ICT at 5.9% mark out two sectors where new licences and foreign expertise are in demand.
- Non-oil exports up 23.9% mean UAE-based trading structures are capturing real preferential-access benefits under the CEPA network.
- The non-oil share at 79.4% is the strongest answer to the old objection that the Emirates is an oil economy: four fifths of it no longer is.
How Atlant Capital can help
If the numbers above describe the market you want to be in, the entry point is a properly structured UAE company. Atlant Capital handles company setup in UAE free zones and on the mainland, matching the licence to your activity, whether that is trading under CEPA preferences, financial consulting or construction services. We assist with corporate bank account opening in the same banking sector that just grew 17.3%, and we arrange work visas and residency for founders and key staff relocating to run the business from Dubai.
Conclusion
A 3% quarter with finance up 17.3% and non-oil exports up 23.9% is not a story about oil prices; it is a story about a diversified economy compounding. The Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre’s first-quarter data confirms the trajectory the UAE has been signalling for years: the non-oil share keeps climbing, the trade agreement network keeps feeding exports, and the sectors driving growth are the ones open to international business. Companies that establish their UAE structure now are positioning themselves inside that compounding, not watching it from outside.
