Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said he is "quite sure" the central bank can smoothly exit from its massive monetary stimulus when the appropriate time comes.

But he also said the BOJ "always" has room to expand monetary stimulus to achieve its 2 percent inflation target, indicating that wages and prices have been slow to respond to improvements in the economy.

The remarks suggest the BOJ is in no rush to swing monetary policy in either direction, particularly toward cutting back on stimulus with the economic recovery still fragile.