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She said this would be an additional measure to help affected workers, together with the extending of the unemployment benefits payment period from 120 to 240 days.

Meanwhile, Pan Wannapinij, secretary general of the Social Security Office (SSO), said the office is assessing the amount of funds for retirement, first collected in 1999 from 9 million workers nationwide. Each worker will be informed of their outstanding amounts, which could be used to back up their loan applications to participating financial institutions.

Pan said the SSO is also in talks with Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and the Government Savings Bank to lend workers' deposits at the institutions back to them at special interest rates.

"Our discussion with BAAC has shown progress. The deposits could be loaned with the interest 2 percentage points lower than market rates. There should be no problem and the SSO board is expected to approve this scheme on December 9," Pan said.

He expected other institutions to join the scheme, which could involve at least Bt10 billion in funds. Workers would be able to tap the fund from January 1 onwards.

The SSO is also in talks with the SME Bank and Export-Import Bank of Thailand to offer employers assistance.

The Labour Ministry said, as of Dec 4, 538 businesses had been shut down this year, shedding 45,163 workers. A further 220 businesses with 102,387 workers could close between now and early next year. Most are in the textile, electronic, furniture and jewellery industries.

"We have anticipated this, but we hope there will be no more layoffs. To accommodate them we  would need more funds," she said. The ministry has asked for Bt1.5 billion from the Bt100 billion extra budget. The interim government recently decided to leave the decision on how to spend the budget to the new government.