The first clear indications of how the World Bank and IMF are going to conduct Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) are now available. A number of the pilot studies have been completed and a conference was recently held in Washington DC. NGOs have expressed concern that their objectives of opening up debates about different social and economic policy options are not being met through the current approaches. The World Bank and the IMF, under pressure from NGOs and some governments, have agreed to introduce more systematic analysis of the likely poverty impact of policies proposed in their loans. NGOs have argued that PSIA should look at macro-level policy alternatives, not just at the 'fine-tuning', timing and sequencing of pre-determined policies.