Abu Dhabi: Non-oil GDP sees robust growth

Abu Dhabi recorded real GDP growth of 3.8% y/y in Q2 2025, with total GDP reaching AED 306.3bn
Non-oil GDP grew 6.6% y/y in Q2 and accounted for 56.8% of total GDP
The sectors that made the largest contributions to Q2 growth include construction, financial services, real estate services and manufacturing.
Outside of these sectors, there are several others that displayed robust growth in Q2, while playing a smaller role in the aggregate. These were overwhelmingly service-oriented, reflecting Abu Dhabi’s diversification into knowledge and services-based activities.
A variety of policy reforms, including 100% foreign ownership in most sectors, long-term residency programs, and digitizing government services to streamline operations, have all contributed to the rise in non-oil GDP activity.
Building on this strong year-to-date performance and considering the anticipated acceleration in oil sector output, we expect the UAE to see aggregate GDP growth of 4.8% in 2025, with non-oil sectors growing 4.7% and the oil sector seeing a sharp acceleration to 5.0% growth. We expect the economy to grow further into 2026 at 4.6%.

Mayed Alrashdi