The Finance Ministry said Friday that the mandatory percentage of shares held by the government in Japan Tobacco Inc. should be cut to 50 percent in fiscal 2002 from the current 66.7 percent.

The ministry submitted the proposal at a meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party's Special Committee on Tobacco and Salt Industry, ministry officials said.

The ministry will submit an amendment to the law mandating the size of the government's stake in the former state tobacco monopoly to a regular Diet session that convenes in January, they said.