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Ireland's parliament approved a multi-billion euro EU/IMF bailout package on Wednesday in the face of opposition threats to renegotiate the deal to force losses on some senior bondholders in Irish banks.

The Belgian finance minister and International Monetary Fund suggested that the scope of measures to stabilize the euro should be strengthened.

The EU and IMF extends 85bn euros of emergency loans to the Republic of Ireland, according to reports on Irish state television.

Debt-crippled Ireland formally applied Sunday for a massive EU-IMF loan to stem the flight of capital from its banks, joining Greece in a step unthinkable only a few years ago when Ireland was a booming Celtic Tiger and the economic envy of Europe.

Euro zone finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to lay the groundwork for bailing out Ireland's banking sector with the IMF, but said Dublin had to decide itself whether to request the aid.

World leaders must defuse currency tensions before they worsen to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Great Depression, the head of the World Bank said on Thursday.

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved Wednesday the cancellation of Haiti's $268 million debt to the fund.

The International Monetary Fund on Sunday approved a 30 billion euro ($38.6 billion) loan for Greece as part of a larger European Union-led effort to help ease the country's economic crisis.

The $147 billion, three-year bailout offered to Greece by euro-zone countries and the IMF won't be enough to cover Greece's costs, an examination of Greek financial figures shows.

Greece reached agreement with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund on rescue loans to keep Athens from defaulting on its debts, a deal that will impose harsh cuts on the county's 11 million people for years.