Up to 300,000 refugees will arrive in Germany this year, the head of the country's migration office has said in a newspaper interview.

The latest projections were disclosed by Frank-Jürgen Weise in an interview with Bild am Sonntag.

However the figures represent a dramatic drop compared with last year, when more than a million migrants flocked to Germany from the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere

The figures emerged as Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's vice chancellor said that Angela Merkel had "underestimated" the challenge of integrating a record migrant influx.

Gabriel is also leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) - the junior coalition partner in Merkel's government - and his comments to broadcaster ZDF come as campaigning gets under way for a federal election next year.

Concerns about how to integrate them all into German society and the labour market are now rife and support for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) has grown.