TOKYO, Nov. 18 -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday that he decided to delay the second round of sales tax hike by 18 months and he will call a snap general election for December after dissolving the lower house of parliament on Nov. 21.

The consumption tax hike from 8 percent to 10 percent to be carried out in October 2015 will be postponed by 18 month to April 2017 as "the 3-percentage sales tax hike in April 1 weighed heavily on the economic growth," the prime minister told a press conference.

Abe said to further raise sales tax as planned would jeopardize his efforts to pull out the country from its prolonged deflation, but adding that the second round consumption tax hike will not be delayed again.

In order to delay the tax hike stipulated by law, Abe said he is "going to dissolve the House of Representatives on Friday" so as to ask public opinions over his decision on the sales tax hike postponement.

Japan will call a snap election on Dec. 14, local reports quoted lawmakers from the ruling coalition as saying, and the prime minister said that he will resign if his ruling Liberal Democratic Party and ruling partner the Komeito party failed to secure the majority in the lower house.

On the Japanese economy, Abe said his "Abenomics" featured by three arrows - aggressive monetary easing, fiscal stimulus and growth strategy, has taken positive effects that have been proved by important economic indicators such as employment rate.

But the prime minister admitted the country's economy "has yet to return to a recovery path" as the third quarter data on gross domestic product showed Japan's economy slipped in recession, and Abe said the government will craft an extra budget for the current fiscal year to boost consumption and the economy.

Abe said Japan will also recover its financial health, the worst among major industrialized economies, and will stick to budget surplus goal by fiscal year 2020.