IMF chief Lagarde says economic risks bigger if Britain leaves EU

VIENNA, June 17 (Reuters) - Britain will face bigger economic risks if it votes to leave the European Union that if it decides to stay, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.

"The economic risks of leaving are firmly to the downside," Christine Lagarde told a panel in Vienna on challenges facing Europe.

"There is... a clear case as to how the U.K. has benefited-and will continue to benefit from its membership in the European Union," Lagarde said.

Membership in the EU had made Britain a richer economy, but it had also made it a more diverse, more exciting and more creative.

(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle, Francois Murphy; editing by John Stonestreet)