Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday the government will raise the consumption tax to 10 percent from the current 8 percent as scheduled in October 2019 to help finance ballooning social security costs after twice delaying the hike.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Abe instructed relevant ministers to come up with measures to mitigate the negative impact of the tax hike. The increase was originally scheduled for October 2015 but was postponed due to concerns that it would dampen consumer spending and hurt the economy.

Abe made the announcement during an extraordinary Cabinet meeting where a supplementary budget of around ¥940 billion for fiscal 2018 was approved to promote reconstruction in areas hit by torrential rains, earthquakes and typhoons earlier this year.