Dubai reports AED473 billion in real GDP for H1 2026

Dubai’s government reported real GDP of approximately AED473 billion for the first half of 2026, according to figures released by the Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment at Digital Dubai. The result was below the approximately AED484 billion recorded in the same period of 2025.

At current prices, however, GDP increased 0.2% to around AED505 billion, indicating that the real and nominal measures moved differently. The reports identify financial and insurance activities, human health and social work, information and communication, and construction among the sectors recording growth.

The Dubai government said the breadth of the emirate’s economic base helped cushion some effects of shifts in the global economy. That is the government’s explanation of the economy’s resilience, rather than a breakdown of how much each sector contributed to the overall GDP result.

Financial and insurance activities were the only sector for which the coverage supplied a specific growth rate and value-added comparison: real growth was 8.8%, with value added rising to AED65.9 billion from AED60.6 billion a year earlier.

The sectoral figures therefore add detail to the headline total, while the year-on-year decline in real GDP shows that growth in named activities did not translate into a higher aggregate real figure.

Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, characterized the performance as evidence of strength and adaptability amid global uncertainty. He also said Dubai was entering the second half of 2026 with momentum.

Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Director General of Digital Dubai, said the breadth of the sector base was a strength and pointed to continued growth across strategic activities during changes in the global economic environment. Younus Al Nasser, Chief Executive of the Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment at Digital Dubai, emphasized that economic activities performed unevenly.

He said the indicators should be considered together with the economy’s size, its sector composition and the performance trends of individual activities. His comments underline why the reported total and the stronger results in particular sectors describe different parts of the same economic picture.

The coverage thus presents two measures with contrasting movements: real GDP fell from the prior-year level, while GDP at current prices rose slightly. The sources do not provide a full sector-by-sector accounting of the change in real GDP, so the named growth sectors cannot by themselves explain the aggregate decline.

The release gives Dubai’s authorities and businesses a broad measure of economic activity alongside a limited set of sector details. The next useful evidence would be a more complete activity-level account showing how the reported gains and declines combined to produce the first-half real GDP total.