diff --git a/configargparse.py b/configargparse.py
index b447396..8a39ed6 100644
--- a/configargparse.py
+++ b/configargparse.py
@@ -316,6 +316,8 @@ def parse(self, stream):
         for key, value in parsed_obj.items():
             if isinstance(value, list):
                 result[key] = value
+            elif isinstance(value, dict):
+                result[key] = value
             elif value is None:
                 pass
             else:
@@ -837,6 +839,8 @@ def convert_item_to_command_line_arg(self, action, key, value):
                             "to 'append' or nargs is set to '*', '+', or > 1") % (key, value))
         elif isinstance(value, str):
             args.append( "%s=%s" % (command_line_key, value) )
+        elif isinstance(value, dict):
+            args.append( "%s=%s" % (command_line_key, value) )
         else:
             raise ValueError("Unexpected value type {} for value: {}".format(
                 type(value), value))