diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 0cae3f2b..de15bfc0 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+Noteworthy changes in version 1.16.1 (unreleased)
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+
 Noteworthy changes in version 1.16.0 (2021-06-24)
 -------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 4d32366a..6cefc090 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ min_automake_version="1.14"
 m4_define([mym4_package],[gpgme])
 m4_define([mym4_major], [1])
 m4_define([mym4_minor], [16])
-m4_define([mym4_micro], [0])
+m4_define([mym4_micro], [1])
 
 # Below is m4 magic to extract and compute the git revision number,
 # the decimalized short revision number, a beta version string and a