 Nigeria's inflation surged to 25.80% in the month of August 2023, 1.72% higher than the 24.08% recorded in the previous month. This is according to the recently released Consumer Price Index report for August 2023 by the National Bureau of Statistics. The significant increase reflects the impact of the removal of petrol subsidies and the devaluation of the official exchange rate on consumer prices. Both amount inflation rose to 3.18% in the review month from 2.89% recorded in the prior month. Also, the debt management office says Nigeria's total public debt increased to 87.38 trillion nair for the second quarter from 49.85 trillion nair in the fourth quarter. This reflected 75% growth compared to the fourth quarter and 103.92% growth compared to the second quarter of last year. Debt stocks stood at 49.85 trillion nair and 42.85 trillion nair respectively. And while investment income has grown the pension fund's asset within the year, the number of retirement savings account RSA holders grew marginally, will keep our eyes on the nation's economy on the show today. Welcome to Business Insight and Plus TV Africa. I am Justin Al-Kadouni. Welcome back here is a roundup of some major headlines in business world. We'll start off with new developments in the nation's economy, whether Nigeria's but see Russell taking a knock despite bullish market sentiments. While Nigeria's domestic bulls celebrate high capitalization levels, foreign investors have continued to decry their inability to liquidate and repatriate their incomes from the assets held in the country. These concerns were echoed in the latest Fitsa Russell watchlist status report. Ma Fitsa Russell announced on September the 8th that Nigeria's Fitsa equity country classification status would be downgraded from frontier to unclassified market status effective from market opening to date. The report suggests that the Nigerian index constituents have been depleted from several Fitsa Russell equity. Despite being dominated by local participants, the downgrade affected domestic market performance on the fourth straight in day of the week as well as all but one local index registered notably sell pressures while yet today it returns stumbled from 32.96% on Friday last week to 31.31% on Monday. We'll move on now to NNPC's announcements. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has announced new management appointments to reposition the company's operations. Mrs. Orisha Mayua Eson will serve as Executive Vice President of OpStream NNPC Limited while Mr. Olaliko Gulleya is the new Executive Vice President of Gaspar and New Energy. NNPC Limited and Mr. Aditha Boshego the Executive Vice President of Downstream NNPC Limited. According to the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the NNPCL, Garbar Din Mohamed, these align with the company's commitment and drive for organizational renewal. It is uncalled on its business imperatives, standards of excellence, people development and strengthening the competencies and capabilities through broad-based leadership exposure. We'll move on next to Oil Martyrs looking at oil prices worldwide that is. In analyzing the dynamics of the global crude markets today, using data from oil price, it has been observed that brand crude remains steadfast at $94.30 per barrel. During the preceding weekend, brand experienced fluctuations within the range of $93 to $94 per barrel illustrating a subtle market shift. Concurrently, the West Texas Intermediate maintained a strong position above $90 per barrel registering $91.28 early on Monday morning on the scoring stability in the market. The recent surge in crude oil prices can be attributed to mountain consent regarding the potential deficit in oil supply. And finally, in business, round of looking at debts, management and Lagos state being the highest, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics has confirmed that Nigeria's public debt grew at a rate of 75.27% on a quarter-and-quarter basis. However, on a state-by-state level, Gigao state recorded the lowest domestic debt with $43.13 billion, followed by Kebi state with $60.94 billion. Lagos state recorded the highest external debt with $1.26 billion, followed by Kudu now at $56.569.38 million. Browno state had the least external debt with $18.75 million, followed by Taraba, which is $21.92 million. And that's business roundup. I'll take a quick break and return with more discussion. Stay with me.