Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to announce a delay in a scheduled sales tax hike.  This is the second time he has delayed the increase to 10 percent from 8 percent, after a rise from 5 percent in April 2014 tipped the economy back into recession.

Abe took office in December 2012, pledging to beat deflation and reboot the declining economy with his "Abenomics" revival recipe. But his economic policy has made little headway, amid stubbornly weak domestic and export demand.