Reliance on US may ease, Salvadoran President says

President Alvaro Magana predicts El Salvador's economy, drained by civil war and falling coffee prices, will shake off its dependence on aid from the United States within two years.

''The economic aid the United States provides us is very significant and very important . . . and if it were a little higher, it would help us pass more easily through the difficult times in which we are living,'' he said.

Mr. Magana, head of El Salvador's mortgage bank before he became President May 1, spoke Wednesday, a day after President Reagan told Congress the government here was making enough progress on curbing human rights abuses and promoting reforms to warrant continued US military aid.