BERLIN: Germany expects up to 300,000 asylum seekers to arrive this year – less than one-third of the total during 2015’s record influx – the Federal Office for Migrants and Refugees (BAMF) said on Sunday. BAMF Chief Frank-Juergen Weise said that Germany’s healthy economy and improvements to refugee services over the last year meant that the country was well-placed to absorb new arrivals – particularly as their numbers have dropped off. “We are preparing for between 250,000 and 300,000 refugees this year,” he said. Germany ensures optimal services for up to 300,000. He said that Berlin would go into a so-called crisis mode if more people showed up. In 2015, at least 1.1 million asylum seekers arrived in Germany – Europe’s top economic power, he said. It put an enormous strain on the country’s bureaucracy to process claims and tested confidence in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s right-left coalition government.