Kyaw Win admitted buying the bogus PhD from a fictitious online university - Brooklyn Park in the US - which sold fake qualifications from Pakistan.
He was caught when the National League for Democracy party, which is forming the new government, made his CV public.
It remains to be seen if Kyaw Win remains on the list of cabinet ministers to take office next week.
A party spokesman told the BBC that the fake degree did not matter.
Confronted by the Myanmar Times newspaper, Kyaw Win admitted the degree was fake.
"I am not going to call myself 'Dr' any more, as I know now that it is a fake university. The PhD on my CV is not a real qualification," he told the newspaper.
A BBC check found the title still on his LinkedIn page, reports the BBC's Jonah Fisher.
Kyaw Win wrote a number of articles on economics and finance using his fake title.
Our correspondent says if the former civil servant is confirmed as minister, he will be responsible for a huge budget and his honesty and accuracy will be vital to the smooth running of Aung San Suu Kyi's new government in Myanmar, also called Burma.
Brooklyn Park University was among some 370 academic websites exposed as bogus last year by the New York Times which traced tens of millions of dollars in estimated revenue from fake degrees back to Pakistan.

Alexis Scott, 39, tricked people into thinking they had too much cash on them as they boarded flights in April 2013.
She was convicted of six counts of theft and one count of misfeasance - carrying out a legal act illegally - at Canterbury Crown Court in July.
Scott, of High Grove, London, was told she preyed on victims' "panic".
Judge James Mahoney said the severity of her crime meant she would be split up from her young daughter, who had been with her at a mother and baby unit since she was remanded in custody in July.
He said: "I have human feelings, I am a father. The judicial duty doesn't come harder.
"It was over a limited time that you did this but it was bold, persistent, systematic, planned and subtle," Judge Mahoney added.
"You preyed on victims' lack of sophistication and panic."
During the trial, the court was told Scott had targeted long-haul passengers at the North Terminal.
People said they were approached at the departure gate and told they could not take more than Â£1,000 in cash out of the country.
They were then told they could claim it back when they returned.
Judge Mahoney said: "This is a case about an official PCSO using her uniform and her status to commit serious criminal offences herself."
"It is an exceptional and very unsual case. The implication is upon the police, the public trust and the international reputation of this country," he said.
"People from other parts of the world find themselves being fleeced by a police officer. If that's the impression that people leaving this country go away with then that's a very serious matter."
Scott's victims lost about Â£13,500, which Sussex Police has since repaid.
Scott was suspended from her position as a Police Community Support Officer when the investigation began and then dismissed for gross misconduct after a disciplinary hearing in July 2013.
The man proposed as Myanmar's new finance and planning minister has a fake degree in finance, it has emerged.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A Sussex PCSO who stole thousands of pounds from passengers while on duty at Gatwick Airport, has been jailed for six and a half years