Despite the overall dip, the financial sector expanded 8.8% to lift its share to 14%, driving targeted growth under the city’s economic agenda.
Financial and Healthcare Sectors Lead Slices of Growth
Beneath the headline figures, specific pillars of the local economy expanded rapidly.
Government services advanced by 2.9% and education expanded by 1.2% in real terms.
Wholesale and retail trade remained the single largest contributor to real GDP at 20.5%, followed by financial and insurance activities at 14.0%, real estate at 11.8%, and transportation and storage at 10.7%.
Officials Point to Long-Term Diversification and D33 Goals
Helal Saeed Al Marri stated that “Dubai’s GDP performance in the first half of 2026 reflects the strength of an economy capable of handling periods of significant global variables with efficiency. More importantly, the continued year-on-year growth in a number of strategic and future sectors reflects the strength and robustness of Dubai’s economic foundations, and the effectiveness of our continuous focus on sectors that will contribute to shaping the contours of long-term growth.”
Al Marri added that the emirate enters the second half of the year from a position of clear momentum as it pursues the targets laid out in the Dubai Economic Agenda, known as D33, which aims to double the size of the emirate’s economy by 2033.
Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, director general of Digital Dubai, noted that diversity and sectoral breadth represent core strengths rooted in a long-term vision directing investment into emerging fields.
Hadi Badri, executive director of the Dubai Economic Development Corporation, noted that the growth of 8.8% in financial and insurance activities, alongside continued expansion in the information and communications sector, enhances Dubai’s position as a global platform for capital, business, and innovation.
Non-oil economic activities expanded by 1.8%, lifting the non-oil share of the national economy to 79.2% compared to 78.1% in the prior-year period.
Financial and insurance activities led national growth rates among major sectors at 14.8%, followed by information and communications at 7.3%, health and social services at 6%, construction at 5.1%, government activities at 3.6%, and real estate at 2.3%.
