RIYADH: The UAE’s non-oil trade rose 13.1 percent year on year to 1.94 trillion dirhams ($527 billion) in the first six months of 2026, approaching the 2 trillion-dirham mark over a half-year period for the first time, new figures showed.
Trade value was 39.6 percent higher than in the first half of 2024, 54.5 percent above the corresponding period in 2023, and 78.8 percent higher than in 2022, underscoring the sustained growth of the UAE’s non-oil activities in recent years, WAM reported.
The International Monetary Fund expects the UAE economy to grow by 5 percent in 2026, with non-hydrocarbon sectors projected to expand by 4.6 percent, underpinned by tourism, construction, financial services and infrastructure investment.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE vice president, prime minister and ruler of Dubai, described the latest trade figures as “historic.”
The newly released WAM statement said: “The value of non-oil foreign trade in the first half of this year more than doubled the levels recorded during the same period in 2019 and 2021, a further indicator of the significant acceleration in the growth of the national economy.”
