Washington, DC, and its Downtown established many economic records in 2008, but the year ended in a decline due to the global financial and economic crisis that accelerated in September 2008.
With the earliest projections for a recovery focused on early 2010, 2009 promises a mixed bag — declines in some economic sectors and modest gains in others. Whatever the future brings, any decline will be less severe in Downtown than elsewhere in the city, region, nation and world because of the federal and city governments’ many economic development investments. This is why the members of the Association of Foreign Investors in Foreign Real Estate voted DC the top US and global city for investment in 2008. And it is why rating agencies continue to rank DC government finances at the top single A credit rating, with a stable outlook for the future.