D.C. Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt projected Friday a $700 million loss in this year’s budget and a $800 million loss next year.
“This is what a recession looks like,” Mr. DeWitt said at a joint briefing Friday with Mayor Muriel Bowser and the city council.
The CFO predicted that the u-shaped recovery will begin this fall and the District will finish its recovery in the spring or summer of 2021.
Sales tax comprised about 18% of the city’s revenue, and 56% of that was shut down when restaurants, hotels and retail started to close and lose business.
“You are losing two years of revenue growth because of the health emergency that we are facing and the economic impacts,” Mr. DeWitt said.
He said based on conversations with the restaurant industry leaders, from the 40% of restaurants that closed during the pandemic, about 20% of them will struggle to reopen. And for hotels, it may take three to five years for them to recover.
• Sophie Kaplan can be reached at skaplan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.