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Lawrence Summers, director of President Barack Obama's National Economic Council, participates in a question-and-answer session during a luncheon with the Economic Club of Washington on April 9, 2009.Chip Somodevilla

Brilliant but blunt-spoken White House economic adviser Larry Summers said Tuesday he will leave his job, marking a major staff shake-up for President Barack Obama as he faces growing pressure to revive the sluggish economy.

Mr. Summers, a former Treasury secretary who had grappled with the Mexican peso crisis and other global financial problems in the 1990s, brought years of experience in economic policymaking to his job as director of the White House National Economic Council. Those close to Mr. Obama said the President relied heavily on Mr. Summers' advice during the depths of the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

But Mr. Summers, who will return to his teaching job at Harvard University by the end of the year, has been criticized by some liberal Democrats as being too close to Wall Street. There were also a number of reports of clashes on the economic team within the White House.

The move comes as analysts say Mr. Obama needs to signal a fresh course on the economy, with confidence in his leadership on the issue slumping amid predictions of steep losses for his Democratic allies in the Nov. 2 congressional elections.

Mr. Obama's poll numbers on economic leadership are particularly low, as unemployment seems stuck above 9 per cent.

Mr. Obama is seen as likely to tap someone from outside the administration to fill Mr. Summers' job, with some saying he should look at business people as potential candidates. He has been criticized for having few people with that background in the administration's senior ranks.

Laura Tyson, a former economic adviser to former president Bill Clinton, is among those who have been mentioned for the job.

Mr. Summers will be the third high-ranking economic official to depart, leaving Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as the sole senior member of that team still in his original job.

White House budget director Peter Orszag stepped down in July and White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairwoman, Christina Romer, left her job at the beginning of this month.

Mr. Summers said in a statement released by the White House that he was "looking forward to returning to Harvard to teach and write" about the economy and finance.

Mr. Obama credited Mr. Summers with having helped guide the country "from the depths of the worst recession since the 1930s to renewed growth."

He said he would continue to seek Mr. Summers' "advice and his counsel on an informal basis."

Mr. Summers will serve on the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, a panel of outside experts led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

Those who know Mr. Summers had long said he was unlikely to stay in his job for more than two years.

"Last fall, the president asked Larry to stay through 2010 in order to see through the passage of financial reform and the continued implementation of the economic recovery program this announcement is part of a long-standing plan to return to Harvard," said a senior administration official.

Mr. Summers had been mentioned as a possible candidate for Federal Reserve chairman but Mr. Obama instead decided to keep on Fed chief Ben Bernanke, who had originally been nominated by former president George W. Bush.

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