Oct 14 (Reuters) - Richmond Federal Reserve President Tom Barkin on Thursday said he does not expect the U.S. central bank’s plan to begin to taper its asset purchases to hobble economic growth, but that it could be a “positive” move in setting expectations for inflation. “My hope is that we’ve got an economy that doesn’t need this amount of accommodation to prosper,” Barkin told the Forecasters Club of New York. “Demand is extraordinarily robust right now.” (Reporting by Ann Saphir Editing by Jonathan Oatis) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.