Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that he wanted to give his prime minister a “second chance” and refused to accept his resignation after a recording emerged of the premier questioning the head of state’s grasp of economics.
During a meeting with the prime minister, Zelensky told him, “I decided to give you a chance”.
Prime Minister Oleksiy Goncharuk had offered to quit after the leaked recording revealed him saying the president had a “primitive understanding” of the economy.
Honcharuk, a 35-year-old trained lawyer, also appears to admit that he himself is not good at economics.
The authenticity of the recording has not been officially confirmed, the BBC reported.
President Zelensky, a 41-year-old TV comedian and businessman, was elected last April, trouncing President Petro Poroshenko.
The audiotape comes at a difficult time for Zelensky, as his relations with President Donald Trump are under intense scrutiny.
The US leader is being impeached for allegedly trying to pressure Zelensky into investigating political rival Joe Biden.
Zelensky has been embroiled in the US impeachment process and faced tough talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but had thus far managed to avoid any significant domestic political problems.
On Wednesday, the audio recording was leaked on social media and came from an informal December meeting between ministers and senior officials from the National Bank.
“Zelensky has a very primitive understanding of economic processes, or rather a simple understanding,” Goncharuk said on the recording,
“He himself was an economic “ignoramus”, Goncharuk added.
After initially denying reports he would step down, Goncharuk announced on his official Facebook page on Friday that he had offered to resign.
Goncharuk became Ukraine’s youngest-ever prime minister after Zelensky nominated him in August, part of a team of fresh faces he promised would shake up the stagnant political scene.
Zelensky came to power promising sweeping change and has since taken several steps to resolve the separatist conflict, including prisoner exchanges and a landmark meeting with Putin in Paris last month.
(With inputs from agency)