The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday that the number of people living in conflict zones, including Ukraine, has almost duplicated over the last two decades to about one billion, which makes it hard for the IMF to say it was fairly doing good to the world.

In a chain of tweets published on the IMF Live forum, Georgieva said, “We have nearly one billion people living in fragile and conflict affected states”.

She noted that the number was “nearly double [of] what this was 20 years ago," adding that “We cannot in good faith say we serve our members if we don’t know how to serve these countries.”

We have nearly one billion people living in fragile and conflict affected states. Nearly double what this was 20 years ago. We cannot in good faith say we serve our members if we don’t know how to serve these countries. @KGeorgieva pic.twitter.com/co0Z4loULq

— IMFLive (@IMFLive) March 18, 2022

According to Acaps, a humanitarian information provider, the number of people who need humanitarian support has grown amid the crisis in Ukraine by 2.9 million to 12 million. The Russian special military operation has affected an overall number of about 18 million people, as per Acaps.

The United Nations data shows that more than 3 million people have fled Ukraine and sought refuge in neighboring and other countries in Europe.

Georgieva highlighted the IMF's role in building infrastructure and capacity that could cope with conflict zones and said it had to “come with financial support when it is justified.”

Under its Rapid Financing Instrument, the IMF has paid out to Ukraine emergency assistance of $1.4 billion to support urgent financing needs, including the alleviation of the conflict's economic impact, the organization said in a statement on Thursday.