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"Without help, exports could shrink 20 per cent this year," said Phongsak Assakul, vice chairman of the TCC.

The business group will propose three measures to the government at the upcoming meeting of the Public-Private Joint Committee.

It plans to urge the government to prevent the currency from getting too strong compared to those of trade partners, to offer unlimited credit guarantees to exporters through the Export-Import Bank of Thailand, and to restore a soft-loan facility to help financially strapped exporters lower their cost of funds and increase their competitiveness.

TCC chairman Dusit Nontanakorn said the good news was that some orders have resumed but the worrying side was the rise of the baht against the currencies of trade rivals.

Although businesses have managed to cut production and other costs, the baht hurts their competitiveness.

This year, the baht has gained 2.71 per cent against the currencies of 12 major trade partners and competitors - the US, the UK, the European Union, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, he said.

Thailand's competitiveness has been eroded, he added.

"The government should intervene in the market as the baht should stay at 37 per dollar," he said.

The strong baht would work against exports in May, which could contract as much as 26.1 per cent, as witnessed in April, he said.

Exporters have suffered greatly as most overseas buyers cannot open letters of credit to guarantee payment due to their own financial problems.

Buyers now issue only purchase orders, which cannot be cashed in, and this presents a payment risk to local manufacturers. Most overseas buyers have delayed payments by 30-90 days.

The Bank of Thailand should renew the emergency soft-loan scheme so that exporters could steer through the current tough times, Phongsak.

"Their liquidity shortage has worsened from early this year. They have not benefited from the expected economic recovery, which leads to renewed orders, as they lack working capital for production. The stronger baht also worsens the situation," he said.

"Though the government repetitively announced that the Exim Bank should extend more credit guarantees, there is no concrete improvement."

The chamber's study showed that for every baht depreciation against the dollar, gross domestic product would grow 0.3 per cent and this would lead to the opening of 110,000 jobs.

Additional loans of Bt25 billion from commercial banks would also boost investment and GDP by 0.03 per cent and create 10,000 jobs.