The Bank of Japan (BOJ) has given an upbeat assessment¹ of the Japanese economy and hinted it may soon withdraw some emergency support measures.

日本银行对日本经济给出了一个乐观的评估并暗示其将会出台一些紧急支持方案。

Japan is becoming increasingly optimistic about the economic outlook

Along with other central banks around the world, the BOJ has been pumping money into the economy to help stimulate² demand.

The bank said that keeping these measures in place too long could hinder an "autonomous³（自治的） recovery."

On Thursday, the bank said the economy was showing signs of improvement.

The Japanese economy emerged from recession in the second quarter of this year after four consecutive⁴（连续的，连贯的） quarters of deep contraction⁵.

Despite the comments, leading Japanese stocks slipped slightly after consumer lender Aiful said it would ask creditors⁶ to let it delay repayments⁷ of around 280bn yen⁸ ($3.1bn; £1.9bn).

The main Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.7%.

'Autonomous recovery'

Deputy governor of the BOJ Hirohide Yamaguchi said the economy was now entering a positive cycle.

The improved outlook meant that the bank could now consider winding⁹ up some of the measures it has been using to pump cash into the economy, by buying up company debt, for example.

"What we do with these special measures should be decided¹⁰ in line with the degree of improvements in corporate¹¹ finance and market conditions," said Mr Yamaguchi.

"We need to pay heed¹² to the risk that keeping these steps in place for long could hamper¹³ an autonomous recovery in market functions and distort distribution."

He also said that the pick up on the global economy is "expected to continue for some time."

On Thursday, the BOJ decided to keep interest rates at 0.1%. It also said that a stronger yen could support the Japanese economy in the long run, despite it making exports more expensive.

The yen is up 6.7% against the dollar since June but, earlier this week, Japan's incoming finance minister said he opposed intervention¹⁴ in the currency market.

The Democratic Party of Japan was voted in at the end of August, ending 54 years of near unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.