* Romania's recent progress is rating supportive
* Outlook could stabilise if IMF terms met in coming months
(adds detail, quotes)
By Marius Zaharia
BUCHAREST, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Romania could see its credit rating outlook improved to stable from negative if it continues to implement IMF-prescribed reforms in the coming months, ratings agency Standard & Poor's said on Thursday.
Under the terms of a rescue deal with the International Monetary Fund, resumed this year after the end of a months-long political crisis, Romania must take further measures to consolidate and tighten its fiscal policy in the next months.
The fast approval of an austerity 2010 budget last month has helped unlock aid disbursements worth a combined 3.3 billion euros from the IMF and the European Commission, expected to be released over the next two months.
But to get more tranches, Romania needs to make its finance predictable and controllable through the adoption of a fiscal responsibility law by the end of March and to reform its bloated communist-era pension system by the end of June.
"The recent developments, not only in terms of IMF/EU support, but also the political situation and a somewhat better external financing situation, are rating supportive," Marko Mrsnik, associate director at Standard & Poor's Sovereign Ratings told Reuters in an interview.
"The compliance with the EU and IMF has been so far ensured and the implementation of these measures has to be sustained in the coming months and this could stabilise the rating outlook."
The comments follow a move by Fitch to raise Romania's outlook to stable from negative earlier this week in response to a resumption in IMF aid.
Markets have also been bullish on Romania this year, with the leu currency
"The news from the S&P is slightly positive, ... but a strong dollar limits market reaction," one dealer said.
DIFFERENT GROWTH MODEL
Romania and Latvia are the only EU members rated below investment grade. Romania is rated 'BB+' by S&P and Fitch and 'Baa3' by Moody's, the only major agency to rate the country above "junk" status.
To improve its ratings, Mrsnik said Romania needs to continue to streamline its public finances and find a different economic growth model from the consumption-led expansion it saw in the run-up to the crisis.
"If the consolidation of public finances is sustained ... and there is a change in the structure of growth from the consumption-based growth we've seen, it would alleviate risks that have been built over the past years," he said.
"These are the two points very important for Romania's credit fundamentals together with a stable political environment."
Mrsnik said there were chances for Romania to reach its IMF-agreed 5.9 percent of GDP fiscal deficit for this year, but added he saw risks related to the pace of economic recovery. (Editing by Ron Askew)