“The dynamics of renewal are under way,” Summers said at a conference in Herzliya, Israel, just outside Tel Aviv. “For the first time in five years I am more optimistic than the consensus forecasts, and expect growth to exceed 3.5 percent this year.”

Summers, who stepped down as NEC director at the end of 2010 to return to Harvard University, said that while the U.S.’s current fiscal situation is “not sustainable without further adjustment,” a political consensus will emerge to allow for deficit reduction.

The U.S. 2010 deficit was a record $1.3 trillion.