Zambia's debts to the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China will be treated as commercial in its debt restructuring negotiations, a senior finance ministry official said on Thursday.

The country's attorney general is also reviewing a non-disclosure agreement with international bondholders, Secretary to the Treasury Felix Nkulukusa said at an event discussing Zambia's debt restructuring. He added that he thought bondholders would opt for principal haircuts over maturity extensions.

Zambia, which has been in default for nearly three years, reached an agreement last week to restructure bilateral debts and its international bondholders expect to strike a restructuring deal in the coming weeks.

(Reporting by Chris Mfula, Writing Rachel Savage, Editing by Libby George)