Abu Dhabi's 2025 Growth Figures Signal Key Expansion Decisions Ahead

Abu Dhabi's economy expanded by 7.7% in Q3 2025 to reach a record quarterly GDP of AED 325.7 billion. The non-oil economy grew 7.6% year-on-year in the same period and accounted for 54% of total GDP. These results from the third quarter set the immediate backdrop for decisions on how to extend recent gains in business formation and sectoral balance.

Quarterly Results and Half-Year Context

The Q3 performance followed first-half 2025 data that showed total real GDP at AED 597.4 billion with 3.63% growth. Non-oil activities in that half-year expanded by 6.37%. The sequence of quarterly and half-year readings indicates steady accumulation of output through the first nine months of 2025, with the strongest single-quarter lift occurring in the July-to-September window.

Non-Oil Contribution and Diversification Path

Non-oil output reached 54% of total GDP in Q3 2025. That share reflects ongoing efforts to broaden activity beyond hydrocarbons. The 7.6% year-on-year increase in the non-oil segment during the quarter supplied the larger part of overall expansion and supplied a concrete measure of how far diversification has progressed within the reported period.

Licence Growth as Indicator of Business Formation

New economic licences rose 21% compared with the same period the previous year, while active licences increased 12%. These percentage changes in licence counts provide direct evidence of heightened business registration activity. The rise in new licences in particular supplies a forward signal on the scale of new entrants that will need ongoing regulatory and infrastructure support.

Credit Rating Confirmation

S&P Global Ratings reaffirmed Abu Dhabi's AA/A-1+ sovereign credit rating in May 2025. The agency cited expectations of a strong economy as the basis for the rating decision. The confirmation supplies an external benchmark against which future policy choices on spending, investment and regulatory settings can be assessed.

The combination of the 7.7% quarterly expansion, the 54% non-oil share, the 21% increase in new licences and the reaffirmed rating leaves authorities with a set of linked decisions. These centre on how to sustain the pace of non-oil expansion, how to convert higher licence numbers into lasting employment and output, and how to align fiscal settings with the outlook that supported the May 2025 rating. The data released for 2025 quarters supply the baseline against which the effects of those choices will be measured in subsequent reporting periods.