BERLIN (AP) — Germany's top migration official expects fewer than 300,000 refugees will come to the country this year.

Frank-Juergen Weise says his agency is planning for between 250,000 and 300,000 new arrivals in 2016.

The head of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said in an interview published Sunday that the number of people who came to Germany during the height of the refugee crisis last year was lower than previously thought.

Weise told the weekly Bild am Sonntag the new figure for 2015, which excludes duplicate registrations and people who traveled on to other countries, is lower than one million.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has come under heat by some in Germany for her welcoming stance to migrants and her motto "we will manage" the influx.