Darling expects economy to start growing again

LONDON (Reuters) - Below are highlights from Chancellor Alistair Darling's Budget statement to parliament on Wednesday.

TAX-FREE SAVINGS ACCOUNTS

"Tax-free ISAs have been a great success. 18 million people have taken them out, saving in them almost 290 billion pounds. Since they were introduced 10 years ago, the annual limit has only been increased once, and now stands at 7,200 pounds. I want to go further. To help savers on the tenth anniversary of ISAs, I intend to increase the total annual limits to 10,200 pounds, of which 5,100 pounds can be saved in cash."

BUSINESS CAPITAL ALLOWANCES

"I want to go further to promote investment now. So for this year, I will double the main capital allowance rate to 40 percent. This will encourage firms to bring forward investment, in particular those companies in the growth sectors that will deliver the rewarding jobs of the future."

NORTH SEA OIL

"There is, at the moment, less incentive to explore and extract oil from the North Sea.

"So I am bringing forward incentives to encourage smaller fields to be brought into production, which could lead to an extra two billion barrels of oil and gas that would otherwise remain under the North Sea.

"They will also remove fiscal barriers so the North Sea can become a hub for energy of the future -- gas storage, carbon capture and off-shore wind."