Federal Reserve officials will double the number of economic forecasts each year and extend their scope, offering what Chairman Ben S. Bernanke called a “rough” guide to the direction of interest rates.

Central bankers will also add predictions for a price gauge that includes food and energy costs and give a “fuller discussion” of members’ projections, the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement in Washington. In a related speech, Bernanke said the overhaul will give the public a better idea of the Fed’s thinking on growth, prices and employment.

The overhaul is the product of Bernanke’s 1 1/2-year effort to bring more transparency to the Fed’s policymaking and falls short of his one-time goal of setting an inflation target. The first new predictions come Nov. 20, offering investors, who currently expect a rate cut next month, a glimpse of the Fed’s most recent reading on the economy three weeks before it meets. [MORE]