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President Barack Obama's top economics adviser, Larry Summers, is to leave the administration at the end of the year.

Under Mr Summers, the council has been at the heart of the government's economic policy making. Summers, who will return to his teaching job at Harvard University by the end of the year, has been criticised by some liberal Democrats as too close to Wall Street.

There were also a number of reports of clashes on the economic team within the White House.

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.

During his past role as president of Harvard University, Summers sparked a firestorm after suggesting in an academic discussion that differences in aptitude might play a role in the underrepresentation of women in top science and engineering careers.

The controversy led to his resignation in 2006. He later worked part time at hedge fund D.E. Shaw while continuing to teach at Harvard.

His past role at D.E. Shaw helped to fuel criticisms that he was too close to Wall Street.

Stephanie Taylor of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee called Summers' announcement a "big victory" for the left and called on Obama to choose as his replacement someone who would be "a champion for regular working folks, not Wall Street tycoons."

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