Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Sunday (remarks were released Monday) that the central bank is alert to downside risks to reach its 2% inflation target by around September 2016.

"While our projection is that inflation will be in the neighbourhood of 2 percent most likely around the April-September period of 2016, the risks to that scenario cannot be ignored, particularly when the global economy is full of uncertainty, including over geopolitical factors," Kuroda said.

He added that Japan's consumer inflation declined to around zero due partly to "the temporary influence of low oil prices".