The Italian parliament on Tuesday approved a balanced budget law as amendment to constitution in a bid to calm the financial markets as debt crisis tensions came to haunts the eurozone.

The austerity law, which was part of the European Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance, will be enshrined without the need of a referendum, said a statement from parliament's upper chamber.

"In late 2011, in the light of the financial turmoil that affected the euro area and heightened tensions related to sovereign debt of member states, the need for promoting a reform to introduce more stringent rules in the constitution in order to achieve the fiscal targets ... has been repeatedly invoked," the statement said.

Prime Minister Mario Monti himself took part in the "important" vote, as he called it, which resulted in 235 in favor, 11 against and 24 abstentions, according to local media.

In an effort to lower Italy's 1.9-trillion-euro (2.5-trillion-U.S. dollar) public debt, Monti's emergency government has carried out tax hikes and reformed the pension system.

Monti has promised to balance the country's budget by 2013, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday that Italy will miss its targets and will not balance the budget until at least 2018.

In a report, the IMF said the Mediterranean country would only cut its budget deficit to 1.5 percent in 2013, while it would still carry a 1.1 deficit in 2017.