(Bloomberg) -- Japanese Minister of Finance Shunichi Suzuki stressed the importance of coordination and collaboration between the government and the Bank of Japan to ensure they don’t hinder each other in pursuing their policy objectives.

“It’s important to maintain close policy coordination so as not to hinder the implementation of other policies and reduce the overall effectiveness of policy making,” Suzuki said at a press conference on Tuesday. 

Suzuki’s remarks came amid mounting speculation in the market that the weak yen may prompt the BOJ to bring forward its next interest rate hike after authorities conducted the bank’s first increase in 17 years in March. Low interest rates in Japan are one of the main factors driving the currency’s weakness.

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said in parliament last week that he’s closely watching the yen’s trends, as “abrupt and one-sided weak yen moves raise uncertainties and are negative for Japan’s economy and undesirable.”

Suzuki said he was aware of the yen reference by Ueda. “We will continue to closely communicate with the BOJ to ensure that there is no friction between our mutual policy objectives,” Suzuki said, adding that the government will closely monitor the exchange rate situation and take all possible measures as needed.

As for the rise this week in yields on Japanese government bonds, Suzuki declined to comment on specific moves and said “yields are determined by the market based on various factors.”

Japanese sovereign bond yields surged Tuesday to the highest levels in more than a decade amid signs the central bank is ready to reduce debt purchases to ease pressure on the ailing yen. The bank surprised markets Monday by cutting the amount of its bond buying.

It’s widely believed that Japan intervened to bolster the yen two weeks ago after the currency tumbled beyond 160 per dollar for the first time since 1990. A Bloomberg analysis of the central bank’s current account suggests the nation probably entered the market on two occasions.

In a Bloomberg interview Monday, US Treasury Secretory Janet Yellen remained cautious about currency manipulation, reiterating that intervention should occur very rarely and be communicated to trade partners.

“When there is excessive currency fluctuation, it’s necessary to take action to smooth this out,” Suzuki said when he was asked about conditions where some steps need to be taken.

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