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The United Arab Emirates has emerged as the Arab world’s leading digital economy, heading the highest-performing group alongside Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. Released as Seamless Middle East 2026 opened at Dubai World Trade Centre, the index places Gulf economies at the forefront of regional digital infrastructure, investment and technological capability. The UAE’s position reflects sustained spending on government services, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and the knowledge economy, while Gulf governments increasingly treat digital systems as strategic economic assets.

Details

• Index scope: The index measures institutions, digital infrastructure, workforce capabilities, digital government, innovation, knowledge and technology, market development, capital-market growth and sustainability. Its structure captures both foundational connectivity and the ability to turn digital capacity into productivity, investment and economic value.
• Saudi payments: The Saudi Central Bank said in April that electronic payments represented 85% of retail payments in 2025, compared with 79% in 2024. The rise aligns with Vision 2030, which places fintech, AI, digital infrastructure and technology investment within the Kingdom’s diversification program.
• Diversification drive: Across the Gulf, data centers, cloud computing, semiconductors, cybersecurity and payment systems are being developed as sources of competitiveness. The investments support efforts by hydrocarbon-dependent economies to attract international capital, create higher-skilled jobs and establish new growth engines beyond traditional energy sectors.
• Market outlook: Metastat Insights projects the UAE’s digital payments and infrastructure market will increase from about $21.3 billion in 2025 to $39.2 billion by 2033, a compound annual growth rate of 7.9%. The expansion supports Dubai’s and Abu Dhabi’s ambitions as regional financial and business centers.
• Regional tiers: Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria form the medium-performance group. Lebanon, Mauritania, Iraq, Djibouti, Comoros, Libya, Palestine, Syria, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen remain in the third group, where basic digital foundations are still developing. The divide also covers research, data-driven activity and the capacity to produce intellectual property and globally competitive technology businesses.
• Sovereignty focus: Al-Khouri said growing dependence on data, AI, cloud infrastructure, semiconductors and cybersecurity is making digital sovereignty central to Arab economies. Control of these systems increasingly shapes economic resilience, national security and strategic industries, driving Gulf investment in sovereign cloud capacity, data centers and semiconductor-related technologies.

Background

The Arab Digital Economy Vision was launched in Abu Dhabi in 2018 and adopted by Arab leaders in 2022 as a framework for transformation and economic cooperation. It seeks an integrated regional digital economy supporting trade, investment, innovation and cross-border services, rather than technology adoption alone.

What’s next

Future index rankings, productivity gains, new technology companies and payment-adoption rates will indicate whether Gulf infrastructure is becoming sustainable economic growth, and whether other Arab states are narrowing gaps in research, innovation and digital foundations.