Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan wants to stay at the official residence of his country envoy in Washington during his visit to the US to reduce the cost of the trip, a media report has said, amid an austerity drive by the government to solve the cash-strapped nation’s financial woes.

Prime Minister Khan, after assuming office last year, launched several austerity measures.Officials in Islamabad are believed to have informed the Pakistan embassy that Prime Minister Khan desires to stay at the ambassador’s official residence in Washington .

But the IMF has attached some tough terms for the bailout, indicating that the government needs to take strict austerity measures.While staying at the ambassador’s residence can considerably reduce the cost of the visit, Dawn report said that neither the United States secret service nor the city administration appears “very receptive” to the idea, the paper said.

A visiting government head holds a number of meetings with US officials, lawmakers and media and think-tank representatives during his stay in Washington.Since the residence is not large enough for all these meetings, the prime minister will have to meet his guests at the Pakistan embassy, commuting through Washington’s busy traffic during rush hours. To do so, his entourage will have to drive by most of these embassies as well as the US vice president’s official residence, the report said.

The US secret service takes over the security of a visiting dignitary as soon as he or she lands in the US while the city administration has to ensure that the visit does not disrupt Washington’s traffic.The ambassador’s residence is in the heart of Washington’s diplomatic enclave. There are at least a dozen embassies in and around that area, including those of India, Turkey and Japan.

Security issues force visiting heads of state and government to stay at one of half a dozen hotels that have special arrangement for VVIPs. This makes it easy for the US secret service to protect the guest.But if the prime minister still wants to avoid a hotel, he can stay with one of the rich Pakistani-Americans in the DC suburbs, the report said.