Allowing the Federal Reserve's emergency lending programs to sunset on December 31 could pose risks to financial markets, especially given that the pandemic is intensifying, Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Barkin said on Wednesday.

"Today most of them are operating as backstops; were the markets to worsen significantly, they would already be in place and ready to go, and perhaps they are creating some confidence," Barkin said in an online event .

"You take them away, it's not necessarily the case you'd have a big impact, but you do have, I'll just say, an increased risk ... do you think we are far enough through this virus that we no longer need that? I'm not sure...the virus will be with us still for some time." 

Barkin also said the central bank continues to add policy accommodation with its monthly bond purchases, but held out the possibility of the central bank doing more.

"Every month we engage in those asset purchases is more stimulus," Barkin said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. "That's a lot of support to the economy. In terms of whether we do something different or more, let's just see how it goes. We are projecting a lot - let's see how it goes."