'World economy has improved': Janet Yellen plays down banking woes

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen shrugged off recent banking spasms to declare the global economy better off than six months ago as she laid out her agenda for a week of meetings with global finance officials in the US capital.

Yellen recalled that in February she described the global economy as being “in a better place than many predicted last fall,” before adding, “that basic picture remains largely unchanged,” according to the text of remarks she’s scheduled to deliver Tuesday in Washington. 
 

The Treasury head is scheduled to take questions from the media following her remarks, which come at the beginning of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings.