Reuters reports that Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the recent stock price rally reflected market optimism over the global economic outlook.

Kuroda said the central bank would be vigilant for financial risks associated with prolonged easing, nodding to growing concern among some lawmakers that prolonged easing was sowing the seeds of a bubble.

But he stressed that it was premature to debate an exit from super-loose policy including the BOJ’s huge purchases and holdings of exchange-traded funds (ETF), as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the economy.

“It’s likely to take significant time to achieve our price (inflation) target. As such, now is not the time to think about an exit including from our ETF buying,” Kuroda told parliament.

Kuroda said it was hard to predict whether stock markets were in a bubble.