Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui said Sunday that the Japanese economy can grow at a faster pace if the nation's ample household assets shift to riskier investment, reports said.

"If accumulated (household) financial assets play an efficient role, that could well boost the economic growth rate," Fukui said in a Tokyo lecture, according to Kyodo News agency.

"Thanks to growth in the past and savings, the amount (of Japan's household financial assets) has reached a huge figure of about 1,500 trillion yen," Fukui reportedly said, adding that Japan can see further economic expansion by shifting the money to investments.

Fukui pointed that only 15 percent of household money is currently invested in stocks and investment trusts and said "there is a potential that household asset would be activated as risk money," Jiji Press reported.

His remarks came after the BoJ decided to raise rates by a quarter-point to 0.5 percent Wednesday -- the first since last July when it ended its highly unorthodox policy of virtually free credit -- as the world's number two economy recovers from its long deflationary slump.

Japan is in the midst of its longest sustained recovery since World War II after a decade in the doldrums.

But inflation remains subdued, with core consumer prices up just 0.1 percent in December.