BOGOTA (Reuters) - The Colombian government will raise the monthly minimum wage to 737,717 pesos ($246) in 2017, a 7 percent increase from the current minimum, the labor ministry said on Friday.

The increase was decreed by the government after business owners and unions failed to reach an agreement on the rise.

The labor ministry also increased transportation assistance for minimum wage workers by 7 percent, to 83,140 pesos a month.

($1 = 3,000.71 Colombian pesos)