Chancellor George Osborne has delivered his sixth budget, the last before the May general election. Here is an overview of the key points from his speech.

Economy

• Economy grew 2.6% in 2014, lower than the 3% predicted.
• Forecast to grow 2.5% in 2015, up from 2.4% predicted in December, followed by 2.3%, 2.3%, 2.3% and 2.4% in the next four years.
• Inflation projected to fall to 0.2% in 2015
• Employment at record levels with jobless rate expected to fall to 5.3% this year

Public finances

• Additional £30bn savings needed in next Parliament
• Borrowing forecast to falls from £97.5bn in 2013-14 to £90.2bn in 2014-15, £75.3bn in 2015-6, £39.4bn in 2016-7, £12.8bn in 2017-8 before reaching a £5.2bn surplus in 2018-9
• Debt as a share of GDP projected to fall from 80.4% in 2014 to 80.2% in 2015-16 before falling in every year, reaching 71.6% in 2019-20
• Public spending to continue to be squeezed until 2018-29 and then grow with inflation.
• £13bn mortgage assets from Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley to be sold

Business

• Tax on “diverted profits” aimed at multinational firms “artificially” moving profits off-shore to come into effect in April
• Extra £900m raised by increasing annual bank levy to 0.21%
• Petroleum revenue tax to fall from 50% to 35% and supplementary charge on North Sea oil producers to be cut from 30% to 20%
• New tax allowance to encourage investment in North Sea oil
• Gift Aid limit for charities to be extended to £8,000

Personal Taxation

• Tax-free personal allowance to rise from £10,600 in 2015-6 to £10,800 in 2016-7 and £11,000 in 2017-8
• 40p tax threshold to rise by above inflation from £42,385 in 2014-5 to £43,300 in 2017-8
• Annual paper tax returns to be abolished

Savings

• Introduction of new personal savings allowance – First £1,000 interest on savings income to be tax free for basic rate taxpayers, and first £500 for top-rate taxpayers
• ISA annual savings limit increased to £15,240

Pensions

• Lifetime pension pot allowance to be reduced from £1.25m to £1m from 2016, saving £600m annually
• Pensioners to be allowed to access their annuities, 55% tax charge axed and tax applied at the marginal rate

Alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and fuel

• Beer duty cut by 1p and cider by 2p
• Scotch whisky excise duty cut by 2%
• Gambling taxes unchanged
• Tobacco duty set to rise at 2% above inflation (around 16p per 20 pack of cigarettes)
• Petrol duty frozen – cancelling planned September increase

Infrastructure

• Up to £600m to clear new spectrum bands for auction to improve mobile network coverage and speeds
• New inter-city rail franchise for south west of England
• Toll for Severn river crossings to be reduced from 2018
• Consultation on £1bn “tidal lagoon” in Swansea Bay to generate green energy

Military

• Further £75m from Libor-fixing fines to go to charities for regiments which fought in Afghanistan
• £25m to support army veterans, including nuclear test veterans