The Japanese yen declined against its major counterparts today after the Japanese Vice Finance Minister said that the currency rate volatility is hurting the country’s economy.

Kazuyuki Sugimoto told the reports in Tokyo today that stimulating the economy is now the government’s top priority and that the excessive yen’s volatility on Forex is undesirable. The yen fell against the dollar, the euro and the pound, while the U.S. dollar continued its gain against the euro. The yen’s decline happened despite the decline in the domestic stock market, which is a rare coincidence.

Analysts believe that the currency intervention may follow after such statements as the today’s one. Japanese government can buy dollars with the yen to hold down the currency’s appreciation. Even if the government isn’t really planning an intervention, many traders will react on the today’s interview as if it’s going to and the yen will remain under pressure.

USD/JPY rose from 95.03 to 95.75 as of 12:16 GMT today. EUR/JPY went up from 128.14 to 128.98, while GBP/JPY advanced from 144.17 to 146.01.

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