LONDON, March 20 -- George Osborne MP, British Chancellor of Exchequer, delivered 2014 B udget Statement yesterday. The following is the full text:

Mr Deputy Speaker,

I can report today that the economy is continuing to recover – and recovering faster than forecast.

We set out our plan.

And together with the British people, we held our nerve.

We’re putting Britain right.

But the job is far from done.

Our country still borrows too much.

We still don’t invest enough, export enough or save enough.

So today we do more to put that right.

This is a Budget for building a resilient economy.

If you’re a maker, a doer or a saver: this Budget is for you.

It is all part of a long term economic plan – a plan that is delivering security for the people of this country.

I have never shied away from telling the British people about the difficult decisions we face.

And just because things are getting better, I don’t intend to do so today.

Yes, the deficit is down by a third.

Now in the coming year it will be down by a half.

But it is still one of the highest in the world – so today we take further action to bring it down.

Yes, investment and exports are up.

But Britain’s got twenty years of catching up to do – so today we back businesses who invest and export.

Yes, manufacturing is growing again, and jobs are being created across the country.

So today we support manufacturers and back all regions of our country.

And while as a nation we’re getting on top of our debts,

for many decades Britain has borrowed too much and saved too little.

So in this Budget we make sure hardworking people keep more of what they earn – and more of what they save.

Yesterday we set out our support for parents with tax free childcare.

Today support for savers is at the centre of this Budget,

as we take another step towards our central mission: economic security for the people of Britain.

OBR AND ECONOMIC FORECASTS

Mr Deputy Speaker, let me turn to today’s forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

I am grateful to Robert Chote, Steve Nickell and their team – and thank Graham Parker for agreeing to serve with them for another term.

It is a credit to the OBR that we now take for granted that figures presented at this Despatch Box are not fiddled but fair and independent.

A year ago at the Budget the OBR forecast the economy to grow by just 0.6% in 2013.

They now confirm that it grew by three times as much.

At the Autumn Statement, they significantly revised up their expectations for future growth.

Today I can tell the House they are revising up their forecast again.

A year ago, they predicted growth in 2014 would be 1.8%. At the Autumn Statement, 2.4%. Today the OBR forecast growth in 2014 of 2.7%.

That’s the biggest upward revision to growth between Budgets for at least 30 years.

Growth next year is also revised up to 2.3%.

Then it’s 2.6% in 2016 and 2017.

And with the output gap closed around a year earlier than previously predicted, growth returns to around its long term trend, at 2.5% in 2018.

Taken together, these growth figures mean our economy will be £16 billion larger than was forecast just four months ago.