Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday announced he is pushing back a second-stage hike in the consumption tax, from April next year to October of 2019.

During last week's Group of Seven summit in Mie Prefecture, the leaders "agreed to employ all available policy means to avert another crisis," Abe told a news conference at his office Wednesday evening, citing what he called growing uncertainties in the global economy.

Abe admitted the risks are not comparable to those in the 2008 global financial crisis, but said he has decided to postpone the tax regardless, reneging on an earlier and regularly repeated pledge to raise the tax rate.