Saudi Arabia is projected to be the largest Arab economy in 2026 at about $1.32 trillion, according to the latest IMF data available before the April 2026 World Economic Outlook release.
The UAE ranks second at $601.16 billion, followed by Egypt at $399.51 billion.
Algeria, Iraq, Qatar, Morocco, Kuwait, Oman, and Tunisia round out the top 10.
The ranking highlights the weight of the Gulf economies, but it also shows the scale of major North African markets such as Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco.
This list uses IMF GDP at current prices in current U.S. dollars, which measures economic size rather than living standards or GDP per capita.
The biggest Arab economies in 2026
Saudi Arabia is projected to remain the Arab world’s largest economy in 2026, with nominal GDP reaching about $1.32 trillion, according to the latest IMF figures available on April 13, 2026. The UAE follows at $601.16 billion, while Egypt ranks third at $399.51 billion.
The next tier includes Algeria at $284.98 billion, Iraq at $273.91 billion, and Qatar at $239.14 billion. Morocco ranks seventh at $196.12 billion, followed by Kuwait at $162.9 billion, Oman at $108.91 billion, and Tunisia at $60.43 billion.
That ranking leaves Jordan just outside the top 10 at $59.29 billion, according to the same IMF dataset, which confirms Tunisia’s narrow hold on the final spot in this list.
Top 10 Arab economies by GDP in 2026
1. Saudi Arabia: $1.32 trillion
2. United Arab Emirates: $601.16 billion
3. Egypt: $399.51 billion
4. Algeria: $284.98 billion
5. Iraq: $273.91 billion
6. Qatar: $239.14 billion
7. Morocco: $196.12 billion
8. Kuwait: $162.9 billion
9. Oman: $108.91 billion
10. Tunisia: $60.43 billion
Why Saudi Arabia stays well ahead
Saudi Arabia’s lead remains decisive. Its projected economy is more than twice the size of the UAE’s and more than three times Egypt’s on the IMF’s 2026 nominal GDP measure.
That gap underlines the kingdom’s continued economic weight in the Arab world, even as other regional economies expand.
The UAE holds a firm second place and remains the only Arab economy besides Saudi Arabia projected above the $500 billion mark in 2026. Egypt, meanwhile, stays in third place and remains the largest Arab economy in Africa by this measure.
What the ranking says about the region
This list shows two clear patterns. First, Gulf economies still command much of the region’s economic weight. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman all sit in the top 10, and Iraq also ranks near the top.
Second, large North African economies remain central to the Arab economic map. Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia all make the list, which shows that regional scale does not belong to the Gulf alone.
A note on the IMF data and methodology
The IMF metric used here is GDP, current prices, measured in billions of U.S. dollars. That makes it a ranking of economic size at current market prices, not a measure of income per person, purchasing power, or household welfare.
The timing also matters. The IMF had scheduled the release of its April 2026 World Economic Outlook for April 14, 2026. Because this article was prepared on April 13, the figures above reflect the latest IMF dataset publicly available at that point, which was the October 2025 World Economic Outlook database and its country data pages.
For readers, that means this ranking offers a credible IMF-based snapshot of how the Arab world’s largest economies are expected to stack up in 2026, using the most recent public projection available before the IMF’s next update.
