Actually, Pakistan's economy isn't doing bad compared to the past many decades. Once the electricity producing projects come online in the next 2 years, a lot of things will change and the economy will further improve by a large margin.
The JFT program isn't being delayed due to the economy. Its because of the evolution of the LCA, the PAC / Chengdu are going to add a few more features to the Block II than originally planned. AESA is definitely on for the Block III. You might start to see it on the last batches of block II also. Plus, there was a local Chinese engine thing too that added to the delay and they are now going back to the RD-93. But be patient, it's usually fruitful.
Pakistan needs to acquire used -16's from the US in numbers to strengthen the existing fleet till JFT comes available in its real form and abilities.