REFILE-UPDATE 2-Chinese retail sales surge 22 pct in April on yr

(Makes clear money supply data in paragraph 9 is for April)

By Simon Rabinovitch and Zhou Xin

BEIJING, May 13 (Reuters) - Chinese retail sales powered ahead in April, providing welcome evidence for policy makers that sturdy domestic demand is taking up slack in the economy left by softening exports.

Sales in the year to April rose 22.0 percent, up from March's 21.5 percent pace and well ahead of market expectations of a 21.2 percent increase.

It was the fastest rise since the government started gathering monthly data in 1999.

"Consumption growth has accelerated, even in real terms, in recent months, as residential income accounts for a growing share of the increase in national wealth," said Lu Zhengwei, an analyst at Industrial Bank in Shanghai.

The figures, which were released on Tuesday by the National Bureau of Statistics, are expressed in nominal terms and so are boosted by China's lofty consumer inflation rate, which stood at 8.5 percent in April.

The corporate goods price index, an inflation gauge to which the People's Bank of China (PBOC) pays close attention, suggested price pressures in the pipeline are still building up.

The index rose 10.3 percent in the year to April, up from March's 10.2 percent pace, the central bank said on Tuesday.