Market Update: We break down the business implications, market impact, and expert insights related to Market Update: Outpacing Global Growth with Record FDI in 2025 – Full Analysis.
Real GDP expanded 4.2% year-on-year to Dh929 billion in H1 2025, with non-oil GDP rising 5.7% to Dh720 billion and comprising 77.5% of the total. The IMF lifted its full-year growth forecast to 4.8%, while Fitch, Moody’s and S&P affirmed sovereign ratings on robust performance and fiscal strength.
FDI and banking assets hit records
Record budget fuels expansion
Strategies target trillion-scale inflows
Entrepreneur and trade push accelerates
The “UAE Future 50” initiative spanned 15 sectors, with a campaign to train 10,000 entrepreneurs and position the UAE as a global startup hub. Over 220,000 new companies registered January to November, and trademarks surged 48.2% year-on-year to more than 36,000. By September end, 402,311 trademarks were active, with nearly 20,000 added in H1 alone, up 129%.
Expanded economic partnerships, the “UAE Global Centre of Trade” targeting top 1,000 traders and a digital exporter gateway cemented the UAE’s trade gateway role.
Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, where she spends her days unpacking money, markets, aviation, and the big shifts shaping life in the Gulf. Before returning to Gulf News, she launched Finance Middle East, complete with a podcast and video series.
Her reporting has taken her from breaking spot news to long-form features and high-profile interviews. Nivetha has interviewed Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu, IMF’s Jihad Azour, and a long list of CEOs, regulators, and founders who are reshaping the region’s economy.
An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha has shared classrooms and newsrooms with journalists from more than 40 countries, which probably explains her weakness for data, context, and a good follow-up question.
When she is away from her keyboard (AFK), you are most likely to find her at the gym with an Eminem playlist, bingeing One Piece, or exploring games on her PS5.