Reuters reports that Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said that the Bank of Japan will consider extending its pandemic-relief programme beyond the current September deadline if necessary, as the country struggles with a spike in COVID-19 infections that is crippling the economy.

Kuroda said the world’s third-largest economy remains on a path toward recovery as robust exports and corporate profits offset some of the pandemic’s damage to consumption.

But he warned that there was high uncertainty about the pace of vaccine rollouts, which could inflict longer-than-expected pain on the economy.

“For the time being, risks to Japan’s economic outlook are skewed to the downside,” Kuroda said .

“Taken into account the impact of the pandemic, we will consider extending further” the deadline for the BOJ’s measures to ease corporate funding strains caused by the crisis, he said.