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London - British finance minister George Osborne presented his annual budget statement to parliament on Wednesday.
The Office for Budget Responsibility - Britain's budget watchdog - predicted the economy would grow 2.7% this year. It is predicted to grow by 2.3% next year and then by 2.6% in 2016 and 2017.
The deficit is forecast to be 6.6% of GDP this year and 5.5% next year. It is then forecast to fall to 4.2%, 2.4% and reach 0.8% in 2017-18.
The 10 pence tax rate for savers will be abolished.
Osborne launched a "radical change" to defined contribution pensions, removing draw-down limits, doubling the total pension savings that can be taken as a lump sum to £30000 pounds, and removing the need to buy an annuity.
It will still be possible to withdraw a quarter of a pension pot tax-free on retirement. The tax rate set on the remaining cash taken out of a pension pot will be cut from 55% to 20%.
Osborne set out his plans for a welfare cap at £119bn in 2015-16. This will rise, in line with forecast inflation, to £127bn in 2018-19.
The cap will require parliamentary support and will not include the state pension and the cyclical unemployment benefits.
Help for exporters
Osborne said he would double the amount of lending made available to the country's exporters to £3bn. The interest rates charged on the lending will also be cut by a third.
The government will clamp down on property investors who buy homes through a company by expanding the pool of properties eligible to be taxed.
Britain will increase taxation on residential properties purchased via a company by extending its scope from properties worth over £2m to those worth more than £500 000.
Bingo
The duty paid on fixed-odds betting terminals will be raised to 25%. A horse race betting levy will be extended to bookmakers who are based offshore. And the duty paid by bingo halls will be halved to 10%.
Fuel duty has been frozen, beer duty has been cut by 1 pence a pint, and duty on tobacco will rise by 2% above inflation.
The steady rise in the duty on tobacco had been due to end next year, but it has now been extended for the rest of the next parliament.
Tax avoidance
Under new rules, British companies and individuals involved in legal battles over tax-avoidance will be forced to pay their disputed bills in advance and then seek to reclaim their monies through an appeal.
Previously they did not have to pay the amount until a ruling was made in their case.
From next year there will be no income tax paid on the first £10 500 of a salary, after the rate was lifted from £10 000.
For those paying the higher rate of tax, currently 40%, the threshold will rise for the first time in this parliament, from £41 450 to £41 865 next month, and to £42 285 next year.
