LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's economy will grow less this year and in the next than official forecasts showed in December, finance minister George Osborne said in his budget statement on Wednesday.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now expects the economy to expand by 0.6 per cent in 2013 and 1.8 per cent in 2014, Mr Osborne said.

The OBR then expects the recovery to pick up to 2.3 per cent in 2015, as forecast in December.

In December, the budget watchdog cut its forecast for economic growth in 2013 to 1.2 per cent and predicted an expansion of 2 per cent next year.

Britain has been struggling to recover from a steep slump in output caused by the 2008 financial crisis. Since then, the country has slipped into a second recession and now teeters on the verge of a third.