Give Greece A Chance

And then there's the little problem of the Greek government being led by the Socialist Party, who will have the enjoyable task of facing down their all-important public-sector unions with cost-cutting to help reach their budget target.

You can almost picture European Union finance ministers, who are reviewing Greece's plans in Brussels this week, looking over the Athenian documentation with raised eyebrows and knowing glances. But not everyone is so distrusting.

In midst of the Brussels summit of skepticism on Tuesday, the ratings agency Moody's ( MCO - news - people ) came forward with a surprisingly positive view on Greece's budget plans. Moody's London office sent out a note entitled: "Greece's Fiscal Program Addresses Short-Term Challenges."

Not a bad start. It went on to say that the Greek government "has provided enough detail to validate Moody's current rating assessment," which, as it happens, has been a little higher than that of fellow ratings agencies Standard & Poor's and Fitch.

Just before Christmas Moody's had gone with the tide and downgraded Greece's sovereign debt, but the cut wasn't as sharp as everyone had expected, with the agency pushing the country's credit rating down to A2 from A1.

Over all, kindly Moody's said Greece's plan was "relatively well designed," though for the sake of hedging added that success could not be "taken for granted."

Moody's might be made up primarily of analysts and eggheads, but its comments count for a great deal when it comes to market confidence. The bond market has been looking to the European Union's finance ministers meeting in Brussels to get a sense of whether Greek sovereign debt is worth pushing even further into the unwanted bin, with the spread between Greek and German government bonds widening over the last few months, weeks and days.

If the E.U. ministers come out with a damning critique of the Greek plan, perhaps Moody's latest report will help temper the market's reaction, which could keep Greek borrowing from becoming even more expensive.

It's telling how a country's economic fortunes can be determined by those you'd least expect: fluttery bond traders, civil servants with unreliable economic data and a bunch of eggheads in London.