BPIF chief executive Charles Jarrold said: "As might be expected, there are no real give-aways in the Chancellor’s Statement this year. And with a General Election looming there is of course considerable uncertainty regarding the future direction of fiscal policy.
"Nevertheless the focus on financial stability and longer-term economic development taken in this year’s Budget is reassuring and hopefully will help businesses plan and invest with a little more confidence."
In particular, the BPIF highlighted the government's launch of "a long-overdue review into business rates", its commitment to review the Annual Investment Allowance (which is currently slated to fall back to £25,000 from £500,000 at the end of this year), and its commitment to improve access to R&D tax credits for smaller businesses.
The federation also welcomed the acceleration of the government's planned support for energy-intensive industries (announced in the Autumn Statement), its commitment to continue cutting the rate of corporation tax, which has fallen from 28% to 20% during the current parliament, and the abolition of employers NICs for under 21s from this April.
However, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) warned that for businesses "actions speak louder than words".
BCC director general John Lonworth said: "Unless a root and branch reform of business rates is delivered at Budget 2016, business will regard this as a missed opportunity to tackle a huge break on investment and growth."
Phil Orford, chief executive of the Forum of Private Business (FPB) added: "Business rates have been an ongoing concern for a large number of our members, with 55% in a recent poll seeing this as a significant barrier to business growth.
"It is good to see that George Osborne has taken on board our suggestions of short-term measures to reduce the pain of excessive property taxation ahead of the comprehensive root and branch review, with continued a continued cap of 2%, a £1,500 discount for retail properties and an extension of Small Business Rates Relief.
"However the devil will definitely be in the detail and whether the review will lead to concrete measures to tackle an issue that many small firms feel has needed addressing for some time."
