DAVOS, Switzerland â€" Dubbing 2012 as the year the euro was re-launched, the president of the European Central Bank expressed concern that renewed calm on financial markets had not yet led to economic growth and better lives for European citizens.
Mario Draghi, the E.C.B. president and the person who can probably take more credit than anyone for the relative tranquility that greets visitors to this year’s World Economic Forum, used an appearance here to take stock of the state of the euro zone.
Mr. Draghi said that central bank measures last year had prevented a banking crisis. And he also praised government leaders for steps they took to strengthen the currency union, for example agreeing to put the E.C.B. in charge of supervising banks.
And the net effect of those moves ‘‘To say the least the jury is still out,’’ Mr. Draghi said. ‘‘We haven’t seen an equal momentum on the real side of the economy. That’s where we have to do some more.’’
The euro zone econom has stabilized at a very low level, Mr. Draghi said, and should begin to recover in the second half of 2013.
Data released Friday supported the thesis of a gradual recovery. The Ifo business climate index, a closely watched indicator of corporate confidence in Germany, rose more than expected. The survey suggested that the euro zone’s largest economy is growing again after a contraction at the end of 2012.
What’s more, the E.C.B. said Friday that more euro-zone banks than expected had chosen to make early repayment of three-year central bank loans they took out a year ago. The volume of early repayment is seen as a sign that at least some banks are healthier than they were, and able to raise money on their own. The E.C.B. said 278 banks would pay back 137 billion euros, of a total of 489 billion euros they borrowed a year ago at exceedingly low interest rates.
Looking ahead, Mr. Draghi described 2013 as a year of implementation, when the E.C.B. and governments would begin carry! ing out decisions they made last year.
The E.C.B. would begin assuming authority over banks, he said, and governments would carry out changes designed to improve their ability to respond to crises and police each other’s spending. As central supervisor, the E.C.B. central bank is expected to be more willing than national regulators to force sick banks to confront their problems.
Mr. Draghi defended the E.C.B.’s position that euro zone governments must continue to work to get spending under control. Austerity â€" a word Mr. Draghi said he does not like â€" has been a de facto condition for measures the central bank has taken to contain the crisis and give governments space for economic reforms.
‘‘Fiscal consolidation is unavoidable,’’ Mr. Draghi said during on-stage questioning by John Lipsky, a former first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund. ‘‘There can’t be any sustainable growth, any sustainable equity achieved through an endless creation of det.’’
But Mr. Draghi conceded that budget cutting can push countries into recession, and he said governments should cut spending on operations rather than curtailing outlays for infrastructure projects like bridges and roads.
Asked by Mr. Lipsky whether the E.C.B. would follow the United States Federal Reserve in setting benchmarks for unemployment that would trigger countermeasures, Mr. Draghi said no.
But, in what could signal a subtle shift in E.C.B. thinking, Mr. Draghi suggested that the central bank can pursue economic growth as part of its prime mandate to defend price stability.
‘‘We have given plenty of evidence we can do so within the existing framework,’’ Mr. Draghi said.
