QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador's Central Bank president has resigned after acknowledging that he claimed a fake academic degree 22 years ago.

Pedro Delgado says he made a "very serious mistake" when he presented a degree that he didn't hold to a business school. Delgado is a cousin of President Rafael Correa, and at a news conference on Wednesday he apologized to the president, the government and his family.

Correa called it a "very hard day" in a message on his Twitter account and said, in his words, that it "has done serious damage to the revolution."

An investigation by an opposition politician led to the scandal.