LONDON ¨C Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday he was ready to respond to excessive currency moves if needed, adding that he may raise the issue of foreign exchange volatility at a meeting of Group of Seven leaders in Japan later this month.

With the yen having strengthened about 12 percent this year against the dollar, Abe told reporters in London that ¡°abrupt¡± change is undesirable. ¡°The exchange rate must be stabilized,¡± he said, adding that Japan would ¡°carefully watch these movements and, as necessary, we would need to respond.¡±

The yen¡¯s appreciation has led to speculation that the government may consider foreign exchange intervention to support exporters that may suffer from a rise in the Japanese currency. The yen weakened about 0.5 percent to 107. 33 as of 3:48 p.m. London time after Abe began a press conference in the U.K. capital following a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron.

Abe¡¯s comments come three days after Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda warned that the yen¡¯s biggest rally since the Abe came to power in 2012 risked harming the nation¡¯s economic recovery. Kuroda, speaking in Frankfurt on Monday, said that BOJ policymakers won¡¯t hesitate to expand Japan¡¯s unprecedented monetary stimulus to achieve their 2 percent inflation target. The central bank held pat at a meeting last week, causing the Japanese currency to strengthen rapidly amid expectations of easing.

A weaker currency has been a linchpin of Abe¡¯s program to stoke growth and exit deflation. Japan¡¯s economy is at risk of sliding into its second recession in two years after contracting in the final three months of 2015, while inflation remains far from the BOJ¡¯s target. One gauge showed consumer prices retreated at an annual 0.3 percent pace in March, the biggest decline since April 2013, the month that Kuroda initiated his stimulus program.

¡°There is a risk of the global economy plummeting into a crisis beyond the normal economic cycles,¡± Abe said. ¡°Any drastic fluctuation in exchange rates will have a major impact on trade-related Japanese companies, which is not desirable. In the markets there are speculative movements.¡±

Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department cited Japan on a currency watch list, saying its foreign-exchange practices bear close monitoring to gauge whether they provide an unfair trade advantage over America.

In response to a question on this issue, Abe said: ¡°The Japan-U.S. relationship is in a surplus. It is being indicated within that framework. It is not that Japan is making a lasting or permanent influence or impact on the exchange rate situation.¡±

Abe, Kuroda and other Japanese policymakers have persistently denied that Japan¡¯s monetary policy is aimed at weakening the yen.