The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that a delegation would visit Egypt later in March for discussions on an IMF lending program after Egyptian authorities recently submitted economic plans to the global lender.

"We have now received a document that describes in broad terms their economic programme," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters. "In coming days, our staff will be studying that document and assess the policies, and ... we expect to schedule a mission to Cairo in the second half of March," he added.

The talks will cover details of the economic programme and a possible IMF arrangement, he added.

Egypt has requested a $3.2 billion lending programme from the IMF to help plug a widening budget and balance-of-payments deficit.

Rice said it was important that any IMF-backed programme had the broad support of all political groups in Egypt, following a year of political turmoil that toppled long-time leader Hosni Mubarak. A military council is set to rule until the end of June when it said it will hand over power to an elected president.

Political turmoil and elections could complicate negotiations with the IMF and the country's commitment to sticking with an economic programme.

"We stress the greatest importance on this programme being home-grown and having broad political ownership," Rice added.

Egyptian Finance Minister Mumtaz El-Saeed was quoted on 19 February as saying that the IMF loan would support the 2012/13 budget and compensate for the depletion of Egypt's foreign reserves.

Economists estimate Egypt will need up to $12 billion in external funding over the next year and a half. The country is also in talks with the World Bank on $1 billion in budget financing.