Business week in pictures

Alistair Darling outside 11 Downing Street prior to presenting the last budget before the general election. The chancellor provided only a small lift to a struggling economy over the coming year through a phased increase in fuel duties and a two-year stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers paid for by a 5% 'mansion tax' Photograph: Getty Images Photograph: guardian.co.uk The Scroby Sands offshore wind farm. The government plans to take a direct equity stake in North Sea wind farms through a green investment bank using cash raised from the sale of assets such as the Channel tunnel rail link, Alistair Darling said in his budget speech Photograph: Albanpix Ltd/Rex Features Photograph: Albanpix Ltd/guardian.co.uk The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, seen from a satellite. The emirate's government announced $9.5bn proposals to save state-run company Dubai World from crippling debt Photograph: DigitalGlobe/Getty Images Photograph: DigitalGlobe/guardian.co.uk Semi-detached homes in Salford. Alistair Darling announced an immediate two-year stamp duty exemption for first-time buyers on homes costing less than £250,000. Photograph: Christopher Thomond Photograph: guardian.co.uk Universities in England will see class sizes balloon and the quality of courses deteriorate, the lecturers' union warned after the chancellor announced an extra 20,000 places for September Photograph: David Levene Photograph: guardian.co.uk Belize City, as seen from the air. Alistair Darling announced in the budget that the government will sign tax information exchange agreements with three offshore tax havens: Dominica, Grenada and Belize – the home of the Tory deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft Photograph: Macduff Everton/Corbis Photograph: Macduff Everton/guardian.co.uk Sizewell A (left) and Sizewell B nuclear plants. The government confirmed plans for a carbon levy on energy bills which it hopes will make building new nuclear plants viable. Nuclear constructors have warned they will not invest the billions of pounds necessary without government guarantees Photograph: Graham Turner Photograph: guardian.co.uk The chancellor said he would extend by a year the guaranteed offer of jobs or training for all 18- to 24-year-olds until March 2012 Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images Photograph: Matt Cardy/guardian.co.uk The prospect of fighting an election against a backdrop of record petrol prices led the chancellor to postpone a 3p-per-litre increase in fuel duty, which will now be staggered across 10 months Photograph: Ian Waldie/Getty Images AsiaPac Photograph: Ian Waldie/guardian.co.uk After a long, hard winter left the nation's roads pitted with craters, the Treasury is investing £100m to plug more than 1m potholes Photograph: Alamy Photograph: guardian.co.uk Alistair Darling announced a series of measures aimed at supporting small businesses, including billions in new lending from state-controlled banks, cuts in business rates and the extension of an arrangement that allows struggling firms to spread their tax payments http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/25/budget-2010-small-business Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/guardian.co.uk Striking Brirish Airways cabin crew gesture at a BA flight at Heathrow. The airline announced that strikers would be stripped of their travel perks Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Ben Stansall/guardian.co.uk The Joint Strike Fighter, a joint venture including BAE Systems. But BAE was dealt a major blow when the government awarded the first phase of a £4bn contract to build new armoured cars for the British army to America's General Dynamics Photograph: Lockheed Martin/PA Photograph: Lockheed Martin/guardian.co.uk The German carmaker Daimler, owner of Mercedes-Benz, agreed to pay $185m to settle a lurid series of international bribery charges levelled by US prosecutors, including an allegation that the company gave a brand new armoured S-class Mercedes as a birthday present to an official in Turkmenistan's authoritarian government Photograph: Gero Breloer/AP Photograph: Gero Breloer/guardian.co.uk The Guardian Media Group’s chief executive, Carolyn McCall, quit after 24 years to join the low-cost airline easyJet Photograph: Sarah Lee Photograph: guardian.co.uk