South Africa's headline consumer inflation rose to 5.9% year on year in March from 5.7% in February, data from Statistics South Africa showed on Wednesday.

On a month-on-month basis, the March consumer price index rose 1.0% from 0.6% in the previous month.

Core inflation, which excludes prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, fuel and energy, rose to 3.8% year on year in March from 3.5% in February. On a month-on-month basis core inflation was at 0.8% from 0.5% previously.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Estelle Shirbon)