Spanish PM pushes ECB bond buying program

(AP) Spain's prime minister is urging the European Central Bank to go ahead with a bond-buying program aimed at lowering the borrowing costs of debt-ridden governments like his own, saying state financing rates need to be similar for a currency union to function.

Mariano Rajoy told the Bild newspaper's Sunday edition that ECB head Mario Draghi's call for "exceptional measures" to secure the 17-nation eurozone shows a "determination to solve the problem."

He says "a monetary union cannot function when some of its countries finance themselves with negative-interest, while others must raise money with unsustainably high interest rates."

Ten year Spanish bond yields are about 6.5 percent, while Germany has been borrowing money at below the inflation rate as investors accept taking a loss to hold the super-safe securities.