Lawrence Summers, who was considered the leading candidate to replace current US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, has withdrawn his name from consideration.

In a statement, President Barack Obama said he had accepted Mr Summers’ decision.

Out of the race: Larry Summers was favoured to take over from Ben Bernanke. Credit:Bloomberg

‘‘Larry was a critical member of my team as we faced down the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and it was in no small part because of his expertise, wisdom and leadership that we wrestled the economy back to growth and made the kind of progress we are seeing today,’’ Mr Obama said.